Finally, the music reached a crescendo. Almost everybody was up trying to be the best with gyrations and wriggling to the borborbor beat.
The sound of the trumpet further stirred the atmosphere as some old men and women joined the fray in remembrance of the good old days.
The "Agbleza", Festival of the chiefs and people of Ziope seemed to have reached its climax.
Women in beautiful clothes responded to the sound of the trumpet, wriggled their waists sometimes with seductive undertones.
It must be the left and right movement of the waists that pulled some dignitaries off the dais to join the dancers. It was clear, they (dignitaries) could not match the dexterity of the dancers as they were reduced to spectators though in the circle dancing.
They indeed appeared to be feasting their eyes on the slow and rhythmic movement of buttocks, arms and body of the women.
Some 10 minutes later, the excitement was shifted from the dancing to the offloading of boxes of tomatoes from mini buses to the centre of the Festival ground.
Several foodstuffs were paraded but the hundreds of boxes of beautiful tomatoes took the shine from the others. Truth is that, Ziope has fast established itself as the tomatoes producing zone in the Volta Region and Ghana.
I got attracted to the boxes of fresh tomatoes whose red colour blended with the surrounding green vegetation to produce an aesthetic beauty beyond description.
My mind went straight to Sister Yvonne's kitchen and I realized I would need some of the tomatoes for light soup that evening.
After about 50 minutes of investigations, I finally met nice looking Agbenyegah, owner of the boxes of tomatoes, dressed in khaki trousers with a white 'T' shirt to match.
"Yes, the boxes of tomatoes are mine. I harvested all the boxes here," Agbenyegah said as he talked confidently about how rich he had become since taking to commercial tomato farming soon after completing the then Middle School in the 1970s.
He boasted of his ability to send all his children to boarding schools in Accra as a tomato farmer.
That reminded me of a couple of young farmers I met at Sevaga in the Republic of Togo who could also be described as very successful, in the small community where vegetables and cassavas are produced in commercial quantities.
The young farmers in Togo boasted of having several commercial motorcycles (okada), employed many young people on their farms and revered highly in the locality in view of their ability to honour extended family responsibilities including taking care of orphans and the vulnerable.
Hunger in the Midst of Plenty?:
These success stories abound all over the continent but the question remains why Africa is still unable to feed its own people and depends heavily on food imports from developed countries?
I am told vegetable and cereal farmers in Burkina Faso are among the richest in that country.
It may be true that the environment in Africa is harsh and frequently unpredictable but far from a hopeless situation.
There is no doubt about the potentials of the continent to feed its people. The challenge however, seems to be the roadmap to achieving this goal.
In 2003, the African Union came out with the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) under the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) to help African countries advance economic growth through agriculture-led development.
Many countries are responding positively to CAADP but it is doubtful if the project can achieve its aim of seeing dynamic agricultural markets within countries and between regions in Africa by 2015.
Dr. Makhtar Diop, World Bank Vice President for Africa recently emphasized that "Africa has the ability to grow and deliver good quality food to put on the dinner tables of the continent's families."
He, however, said this was dependent on the ability of leaders of the continent to remove trade barriers that farmers faced trying to get food to the market to feed the over 239 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa who live in hunger.
That recognition raises concerns about the commitment of African leaders to agriculture-led development.
Many leaders on the continent remain glued to using foreign imports to meet the growing needs in staple foods of their people with little or no support to local farmers who struggle with high cost of fertilizers, pesticides and marketing challenges.
I vividly remember the days of Jomo Kenyatta as leader of Kenya. During his reign, Kenya exported maize but after his death, his successors could not sustain the system and resorted to importing from other countries- a situation many African countries are facing today.
In Ghana for instance, it is just like the way some women now prefer to see their children go to buy food than they cooking at home.
It appears Africa's challenges are multifaceted with its leaders confused about which course to chart out of the dilemma.
This is amply demonstrated in the little or no commitment to agriculture which employs majority of its people.
Many have suggested the removal of trade barriers to promote trade among African countries but one wonders if that can actually improve trade in agricultural produce.
Crop Specialization:
It must be noted that almost all African countries cultivate the same type of crops, so even if trade barriers are removed it would be difficult to ask one country to buy from the other.
Also, there are several intra-regional trade arrangements and agreements, yet situations remain the same.
Perhaps, this is where crop specialization comes into the equation. Crop specialization is simply about individual countries concentrating on large scale production of particular crops in which they have comparative advantage for export to other countries on the Continent.
This means that countries would be permitted to cultivate one or two crops they have comparative advantage in and produce such crops in large quantities to feed the continent and export to other continents.
This way, agriculture becomes business as well as an industry because the large production of such specialized crops will reduce cost, generate employment and reduce hunger and poverty.
Due to the large production of such specialized crops, volumes of by-products from the crops are sold or recycled to reduce the per-unit costs of production.
This type of farming is what is supporting the economies of US, New Zealand, and Australia.
Crop specialization would improve economic efficiency and make Africa enjoy its competitive advantage in the World market with strong negotiation power.
It would also enhance social and political cooperation among countries in the region and perhaps 'fast-track' efforts of West African States towards having a single currency.
The intra-regional trade going on in Southern Arica under Southern Africa Development Committee (SADC) based on crop specialization is an indication that an intra-continent trade based on crop specialization is the way for Africa.
This is because, many African countries are still importing food crops such as maize, wheat, sugar, cocoa, vegetables, essential oils and leather from outside the Continent while those commodities are produced within the Continent.
Surely, crop specialization and serious implementation of pro-agriculture policies are what Africa needs now to reduce poverty on the Continent drastically and meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on poverty and hunger and environmental sustainability.