Solomon Kusi adjudged 2020 National Best Farmer

Correspondence from Bono Region:

A 55-year-old farmer from Jomoro in the Western region, Mr. Solomon Kojo Kusi has been adjudged the 2020 national best farmer.

Mr Solomon Kojo Kusi was adjudged the ultimate winner at the 35th National Farmers’ Day event which took place at Techiman in the Bono East Region.

For his prize, the national best farmer took home an amount of GHS570,000 by kind courtesy of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB).

The national best farmer has been farming for over a decade and currently has a farm strength of 220 workers.

He has farms at Kusikrom, Nanakrom, Nyamekwame, and Tikobo No. 1, as well as Tweako Navrongo communities of the Jomoro District in the Western Region.

He is a member of the Ankasa Conservation Fish Farmer’s Association and was named the 2018 National Best Tree Crop Farmer and District Best Fish Farmer in 2015.

The second place went to Nana Kofi Drobo IV, a farmer from Wenchi in the Bono Region with Mahmoud Mohammed Awal from Zabzugu in the Northern Region coming third.

President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo who graced the occasion revealed that his government has created a vibrant agricultural sector which has resulted in the country becoming a net exporter of many foodstuffs.

“Today, our nation has banished the disgraceful spectre of importing tomatoes and plantain from Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire respectively. We are now a net exporter of food, and our youth are venturing into full-time agriculture.”

The 2020 edition of the National Farmers’ Day was celebrated under the theme: “Agribusiness Development under COVID-19; Opportunities and Challenges.”

The award scheme was instituted in 1985 by the Ghana government after the industries showed a 30 percent growth in 1984. This was a significant improvement over 1982 and 1983, years the country suffered a severe drought. The first Farmers Day was celebrated in Osino, located in the Eastern Region of Ghana, where the drought was most severe.