Northern Region honours 17 farmers

The Northern Region has honoured 17 gallant farmers at this year’s National Farmers’ Day celebration for their contributions to ensuring food security in the region and the country as a whole.

The Tamale Metropolitan Assembly also awarded 15 gallant farmers and two institutions as part of the 2014 National Farmers’ Day celebration.

The awards ceremony, which was jointly held in Tamale on Friday, saw Naa Salifu Wumbei, Chief of Wulensi, adjudged the overall best Regional Farmer, while Mr Issahaku Seidu, was adjudged the overall best Tamale Metropolitan Farmer.

Naa Wumbei, the 70-year old traditional ruler, cultivates 150 acres of maize, over 100 acres of sorghum, 500 acres of rice, 250 acres of soya bean, 250 acres of ground nut, and owns 300 cattle, 400 sheep, 300 goats, and over 1000 fowls in the Nanumba Traditional Area.

For his prize, Naa Wumbei took home a tricycle, bags of fertilizer, a radio set, cutlasses, a piece of cloth, a wellington boot amongst other packages including a certificate.

Mr Seidu, who is 45 years old and cultivates maize, rice, groundnut, guinea corn, and yam in the Tamale Metropolis, took home a corn sheller, a motorbike and a certificate.

Other award categories at the regional and metropolitan levels included rice, soya beans, maize, millet amongst others, with the winners taking home bicycles, cutlasses, wellington boots, piece of cloth each amongst others packages including certificates.

The winner of the maize category in the regional level also took home a corn sheller.

Naa Wumbei, who could not attend the ceremony, sent a representative, who expressed appreciation to government for the award, saying, it would spur him to do more to ensure that the region and the country remained food secured.

Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna, Northern Regional Minister, urged the youth to go into agricultural production, because it was the most profitable and clean income-making venture.

Alhaji Limuna appealed to traditional authorities and other land owners in the region, to release land to the youth and women groups to enable them to undertake agriculture production.

This year's National Farmers' Day celebration was the 30th in a series, and it was on the theme: "Eat What We Grow."