Cocoa farmer, 62, adjudged best in Obuasi

A cocoa farmer from Adaase, a farming community in the Obuasi Municipality, has been adjudged the Municipal Best Farmer at the 36th National Farmers’ Day celebration held at New Dokyiwaa in the Obuasi Municipality.

For his prize, Emmanuel Kumah took home a tricycle, 32-inch LED Television, Knapsack spraying machine, cutlasses and a piece of cloth, all sponsored by AngloGold Ashanti Ghana.

The second prize went to Justice Abban of Kunka New Town. He also took home a Deep Freezer, Knapsack spraying machine, cutlasses, a GTP cloth and Wellington boot.

The third position went to a 43-year-old woman, Patricia Nuamah, from Adaase. She was given a double-decker refrigerator, Knapsack spraying machine, cutlasses, half piece of Cloth and Wellington boots as prizes for her position.

Speaking after the event, Mr. Kumah thanked the organizers for a good job done.

He praised the Obuasi office of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) for their relationship with farmers in the Municipality.

He said he always abides by the teachings of the extension officers to improve his yields.

He appealed to the youth to take advantage of the plethora of intervention measures introduced by the government to boost agriculture in the country.

The Municipal Chief Executive for Obuasi, Elijah Adansi-Bonah, in his speech, talked about importance of adding value to agriculture produce to attract more foreign exchange to the country.

He expressed delight in the fact that a lot of farmers in the Municipality have added value to their produce.

This he said will help improve agriculture in the Municipality.

Obuasi though a mining town has chalked a lot of successes in agriculture especially with regard to the implementation of key government policies such as Planting for Food and Jobs and Planting for Export and Rural Development.

The MCE revealed that last year about 15,000 Oil Palm Seedlings were distributed whiles this year alone, 10,000 of them have been given to farmers under the Planting For Exports and Rural Development (PERD).

On the theme for this year’s celebration, ‘Ensuring Agribusiness Development under COVID 19 – Opportunities and Challenges’, Mr Adansi-Bonah said there was enough food supply during the lockdown as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, a situation he attributed to the success of Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme.

On his part, the Municipal Director of MOFA, Augustine Antwi, alked about the success story of the government’s flagship programmes in agriculture. He said through those programmes, there is food security even in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

He encouraged the youth and those who are into farming to seek for technical advice from his office since their doors are always opened to offer support to their clients.

In all, 30 farmers from the Municipality were awarded by the Assembly.

Chiefs, the clergy, members of the security services and the media were present at the event.