32-year-old farmer wins best farmer in Obuasi East

32-year-old Daniel Fordjour, a farmer from Diawuoso in the Obuasi East District was adjudged the District's Best Farmer at the 38th National Farmers’ Day Celebration held at Odumasi.

For his prize, he took home a tricycle also known as aboboyaa, 40 inches led television, GTP print wax, cutlasses, field boats, a certificate of merit and many others.

Mr.Forjour who could not hide his excitement thanked the Agriculture Department for the good relationship with farmers in the District and added his voice to calls for young people to venture into agriculture stating that it is lucrative.

"I want to seize this opportunity to tell the youth of Obuasi that farming is a very profitable venture. There are opportunities in farming that I believe the youth should take advantage of. "

He however appealed to the government to make fertilizer accessible saying the high cost of it makes it difficult for farmers to get them to improve their yield.

"Don't give your farmlands out for mining" – DCE

Honorable Faustina Amissah, the District Chief Executive for Obuasi East in an interview with the media after the event appealed to farmers in the district not to give their farmlands out for mining activities.

She said the practice which has become common among Ghanaian farmers now, could have dire consequences on Ghanaians since arable lands could be depleted resulting in food insecurity.

Hon Amissah underscored the importance of this year's farmers' day celebration emphasizing that farmers have held their own even under challenging economic situations in the country.

In line with this, she added that the Assembly deliberately decided to improve the prizes for the award winners to encourage them to continue to work hard.

" This year, we decided to award 10 farmers from different backgrounds while we improved the prizes for deserving winners. We are doing this to send a signal to farmers that we appreciate their contributions to the development of the country."

The Member of Parliament for the Obuasi East constituency Dr. Patrick Boakye Yiadom who was the special guest of honour for the event also lauded farmers in the district for their contributions to economic development of Ghana.

He said government recognising the importance of agriculture has rolled up plethora of programs which is targeted at transforming the economy of the country. He said programs like planting for food and jobs remain a key program of the government to transform the Agric sector.

Hon Boakye Yiadom also donated gas cylinders to all the awardees on the day.

The theme for this year's Farmers’ Day was “Accelerating Agriculture Development Through Value Addition. According to the District Director of Agric Osei Yaw, this is a reminder for the government and stakeholders involved in the agriculture value chain of the essence of Agro-processing.

He said agro-processing has tremendous potential for increasing income through value addition and shelf life and access to food security through the establishment of scaled agro-processing businesses and rural agro-based industries.

A former Municipal Chief Executive for Obuasi, Hon. Richard Ofori Agyemang Boadi, the District Coordinating Director Eric Aboagye-Mensah, Chiefs, the Clergy, Members of the Security Services, Assembly Members and Heads of Department were present at the event.