21 farmers honoured at Ashanti Regional awards ceremony

Mr Samuel Kofi Tetteh, a 38-year old farmer at Akomadan-Afrancho in the Offinso North District was on Friday adjudged the Ashanti Regional best farmer.

This was at the 28th national farmers day celebration held at Nkawie in the Atwima-Nwabiagya District.

He received a corn mill, motorized spraying machine, sewing machine, knapsack sprayer, bicycle, pair of wellington boots, 10 cutlasses, a radio cassette recorder, herbicides and a certificate as his prize.

Tetteh has cultivated 75 acres of maize, 10 acres of tomatoes, 15 acres of yam, 20 acres of cassava, 10 acres of cocoa, 20 acres of oil-palm 10 acres of teak plantation, four acres of cowpea and owns 22 cattle, 100 birds, nine grass-cutters and 100 snails.

Twenty (20) other farmers were also honoured at the ceremony for their tremendous contribution to agricultural development in the region.

They were presented with certificates, knapsack sprayers, wellington boots cutlasses, radio cassette recorders and herbicides.

Mr Mohamed Issah 46, from Kodie in the Afigya Kwabre District emerged best regional fish farmer, with Mr Osei Yaw Johnson, 35, from Agona in the Sekyere South, as the best youth farmer.

The two, received deep freezers, cast net and bicycles in addition to the other items given to all the award winners.

Dr Kwaku Agyemang-Mensah, the Regional Minister, underlined the need to strengthen farmer based organizations through market place bargaining power to enable them to provide the food requirements of the country.

He said using farmer-based-organizations to increase access to technology, inputs and market was the key to agricultural modernization and a sure way to improving human capacity for increased production and rural incomes.

The Minister spoke of government’s determination to improve food security and farmers income and encouraged them to come together in order to benefit from various government interventions in the sector.

Mr Emmanuel Eledi, the Regional Director of Agriculture, appealed to farmers to adhere to the advice by the agricultural extension agents to increase production.