An uncanny reshuffling of a bizarre kind has been orchestrated and implemented in the social fabric. This effective democratic policy of checks and balances was not engineered by any government, it was occasioned by the unpredictable vicissitudes of life and the conditions of the times. Influenced strongly by an idea, a belief or general trend of consciousness which may in turn have its genesis in the minds of some few indolent persons but is been held sacred now and adhered to by many.
Hovering desperately on pavements in the city imploring or seeking for alms from strangers and passersby were mostly done in the past by the physically challenged or people with disabilities mostly blind men and cripples and the mentally retarded. Now, who could have imagined that, these crop of men with disabilities and deformities who always engender public sympathy and live by the cursory charitable acts of some few people in the society, have being scrutinized and their dirty purse strings of insignificance measured by idle gluttons. The disabled in the society have being viewed as first class business men living ostentatious lifestyles and spending lavishly the money they earn on the streets. So now young energetic men and women without disabilities or deformities – some are even well educated driven by indolence and greed have resorted to begging for alms from people. In other words, they have become beggars – they have coveted the "envious" positions the pitiable beggars occupy and are doing it with alacrity and without the least shame.
Impelled by gastronomical demands and selfish desires – lethargy and sluggishness, sloth and lassitude the physically fit and mentally sound have usurped the humble positions of the poor despised beggars.
The educated youth and adults alike mostly schooled in misconceptions and modern myths and superstitions, of wrong notions and a laughable, highly artificial and superficial way of facing reality have left an indelible mark on the minds of the populace that engaging in white collar job is decent and civilized and the pursuit of manual work is demeaning and beneath the level of the educated. Hence, to engage in manual work would be something they would never attempt to do but would rather engage in fraudulent acts and criminal activities and all forms of social vices including usurping the positions of the beggars!
The ruin of the youth of today is their susceptibility to wrong notions and unthinkable ideas and their lack of analytical poise.
They want to be seen wearing suits with flying ties clutching two or more mobile phones and many other toyish inconsequential accoutrements of modernity which they believe enhances their social status.
Their minds are overstuffed with wrong notions and extremely prejudicial ideas which does not even correspond with modern conventional thoughts and ideals. The youth, highly susceptible and imitative of western ways and cultural values end up finally over utilizing or underutilizing what ever that they price above everything else and sheepishly emulate.
In the advanced countries, agriculture is a supreme sector and plays a significant role in their economies. It is understatement to sing the virtues of agriculture and catalogue its numerous benefits and centrality to human existence. Even the well to do middle class engage in one way or the other a form of subsistence or small scales farming, with a particular focus on backyard farming. They are able through their own small efforts to subsidize their food supplement. There are no vicious myths ignited by superstition and ignorance attached to farming in general. Engaging in agriculture is not considered demeaning or uncivilized, it is a natural way of living. Yet, in Ghana in the 21st century, to engage in agriculture is to retrogress into primitivism, be stigmatized and deemed inferior and a failure.
We have concocted inimical myths fueled by dire ignorance and superstition and view agric as an outmoded way of living and relegate it to the peasantry. The so called illiterates masses in the villages. They are deemed the right people to do the hated job, the demeaning and primitive "way". Education shouldn’t make one a farmer. The very word farmer in our society is associated with simplicity and ignorance. The farmer is viewed as a remote figure who has no place in the modern world – his boon and fate is to stay in the village and till and cultivate the soil to feed the civilized men of the city. Education should make one a fine gentleman, learned and respected with all the praises showered on him as the bearer of the touch of enlightenment and not a man in a remote village, wasting his life on an accursed land with hoes and cutlasses never!
One would have thought that once we have come to terms with the imperatives of modernity not to farm or engage in any self reliant venture, we would literally feed on the air, which is boundless. This is not the case. Those who will curse the farmer, the hoe and the cutlass are the those ironically with voracious appetites and hypocritical relish for local dishes. Farming is a taboo, food is not.
We nostalgically remember a policy of self reliance which was implemented in the mid 70’s by a military regime commonly called operation feed yourself and later operation feed your industries which tackled some of the problems confronting the development of the industrial sector. We recall vividly how in a few years we converted our hither to uncultivated lands and untapped resources to good use which actually proved rewarding and one of the greatest achievements of a military regime. Every one was encouraged to engage in subsistence farming. Where there is an arable land should be cultivated. Backyard gardening was encouraged by the governments and within some few years the whole nation was overflowing with various foodstuffs and even surplus left for export.
Nowdays people erect structures which they term houses mostly in a locations either obstructing watercourses or designated for road construction or erection of pylons and other social and economic projects. Bursting with ravenous greed and selfishness, they enclose their "modern cubicles" with defenseless walls god is the guardian of the city at least. And turn the compound which could be used for cultivation to horticultural use. They plant flowers and various types of green grasses, a perfect defecating ground for dogs. And witlings are employed to mow and trim the ground and water hoses left for hours on the ground to fertilize the soil for the luxuriant growth of green verdure of ornamentation. Whiles it is a good habit to plant flowers which not only beatifies a place but also generally good for healthy living, were they not planting flowers when the policy of operation feed yourself was implemented and practiced by all and sundry. Was horticulture neglected?
Our unreasonable abhorrence of engaging in farming is unimaginable. Because man was cursed to till the soil by god as the credulous religionist is quick to indicate, in modern Ghanaian psyche, it is still a curse to engage in farming.
We virtually import everything yet we are prone to admit that we are endowed with numerous resouces, our land blest with gold. It is a fact that we are gifted with countless resouces, but these resouces are no resouces when they are left untapped, unexplored. Your land is rich in gold if it is fertile and cultivable. We have a veritable land for these, not the people, the labour.
Because, farming, the herald of civilization, the undisputable economic venture that no man survive without it, is grossly overlooked, demeaned, prejudiced and underestimated; and the populace clamoring for foodstuffs day in and day out. crafty and wily men, in other to surf through the economic net albeit haphazardly have quickly devised ways and means of meeting poplar demand by resorting to various forms of inorganic and pseudo farming. They use destructive substances in the name of manure and fertilizers to poison the soil and the farm produce. The normal period for cultivation and harvest has been drastically reduced and farm produce that would have taken months to grow to maturity are now forced to ripe, plucked or uprooted in weeks to the city for gluttons to eat and die. These artificial foodstuffs full of chemicals detrimental to human health, devoid of nutrients and taste, is what we now consume. A grueling repercussion for refusing to grow what we eat.
Effects of rural urban migrations. The Quest for non existent jobs in the city have driven countless youths and energetic men to the city. Massive labor deployed from the countryside to waste away in the city and augment crime and social vices.
To farm and live simple lives and be closer to nature in the vocabulary of the youths is a thing of the past. Farming is outmoded. It is not worth practicing. They will hawk inconsequential wares in the city, lead extremely promiscuous lives in the city. They have vowed to suffer like crazy in the scorching sun of the city of filth, noise, puddles and crime. They prefer to engage in prostitution, armed robbery, double dealing, charlatanism, fornication and other disconcerting social vices. They have swore heaven and earth to peddle around with rotten soars and in filthy garments, idle around and sleep in fronts of deserted stores. There to indulge in illicit sex with street hooligans and vagabonds. The young men would also spend they few pesewas they earn or steal to buy low in nutrition food, cue at the toilet to release half of the poisonous substances in their stomachs and the rest left to puff at cigarettes or marijuana, drink alcoholic beverages to burn their intestines and feast in drunkenness and eventually strike a canal deal with the last money in their pockets with the town helpers, practitioners of the oldest profession in the world for the night and after the night orgies with the prostitutes, nap for a while and plan how they can steal or dupe the next day.
The ladies have also vowed to "do’ away with any unwanted pregnancies. They would either have to eliminate the fetus before it starts to develop or if the vagabond proves stubborn in their wombs they are eventually discarded or dumped in refuse cans, on rubbish heaps or in pit latrines. If the fatherless fetus proves too stubborn and are eventually delivered, they are left to be initiated in the vices their immature parents have already been entangled.
Those who could not farm in the villages and are in the city to seek for non existent golden opportunities in the era of the golden age of business are eventually jostled from their daydreams and fancy to face reality. They realize all too soon that not all that glitters is gold. In the city, so many things do glitter, but most of it are filth or toilet in containers, polythene bags or Milo tins tossed from the ancient windows of relieved men who could not afford the fee charged at the public toilet. At times they behave themselves by cueing and paying the pesewas but what would they do if they take laxatives? And the inhuman cue happens to stretch to infinitum? Black entities and the color black is not devilish at tall. It is the savior of mankind!
They eventually grow desperate because hawking on the street is even difficult venture for them to engage in. and dreading the consequences of stealing, for in the city they would be lynched or batted to death or burnt alive. So what they do is to usurp the offices of the beggars or if that place too proves too competitive, they feign madness, acting like the insane and beg for money from passersby.
They wouldn’t attend school. They wouldn’t assist in farm works. They will travel to wither away in a burning city of hypocrites, criminals and prostitutes. Dishonest politicians and intellectuals.
Unless the youth is taught to recognize and appreciate the fact that unless they pursue education and eliminate unrealistic fancies and thoughts of trooping to the city to hawk or secure a decent job in the city they would always live in fools paradise and continue to build castles in the air in their bid to look for money to survive in a city of destruction.
There should be structures and systems set in place to made sure that laws and policies set to address these social menace are rigidly enforced. And we all should make sure that we approach issues on realistic bases devoid of personal biases and prejudices, superstition and partiality. In other to salvage our community on the verge of collapse, we need to change our minds and altitudes. We all should strive to educate the less endowed and assist ourselves. We must put a stop to our highly individualistic self indulgent approach to things that need the collective effort of the community to work. We have to drop the modern myths we have concocted that vitiates and demeans the virtues inherent in manual work. Farming especially.
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