Mr Francis Appiah, 41, from Adokwai, was on Friday crowned the 2024 Best Farmer for Adansi North District of the Ashanti Region, taking home a tricycle donated by the AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi Mines, a certificate and other assorted items at this year’s Farmers’ Day celebration held here at Adansi-Adokwai.
Mr Appiah is into cocoa farming, crops and tubers, vegetables, among others, creating jobs on his farm for hundreds of youth in the area.
He was presented with a certificate and wooden-carving of a stool and sword, symbolising his status as the best farmer for the district for the year 2024.
The first runner-up went to Sakyi Kwabena from Adokwai and the second runner-up went to Kwame Gyamera from Dompoase. They receive certificates, fridges and other assorted items. In all, 15 farmers won various awards, including livestock farming.
Among the dignitaries were the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Member of Parliament for the Fomena, Andrew Amoako Asiamah; the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Adansi North District Assembly (ANDA), Kwaku Eric Kusi; the chief of Adokwai, Dasebre Omono Asamoah Agyei; the Krontihene of Adansi Kusa, Nana Yamoah Ponko II, and the District Director of Agriculture, Prince Asare.
Mr Appiah expressed gratitude for the recognition of his efforts toward food sufficiency in the country and called on other farmers to strive to make it to the regional and national level.
Addressing the gathering, the DCE, Mr Kusi, commended the farmers for ensuring food sufficiency in the country, and urged them to continue to work harder to win more laurels.
Touching on the theme: ‘Building Climate Resilience Agriculture for Sustainable Food Security’ Mr Kusi stated that, “We thank for you farmers for your hard work, dedication to ensuring our food security and economic growth. We recognise your resilience and adaptability, and we pledged our commitment to enhancing extension service for climate-resilient agriculture.”
He said government had rolled out climate resilient policies like climate information service being provided by extension officers, agriculture insurance programmes for farmers, promote climate-smart agriculture practices to mitigate against climate variabilities that was affecting farmers in the district endowed with fertile lands.
Furthermore, Mr Kusi noted that a cassava processes factory had been established at Bobriease, under the One District One Factory Enable Youth Initiative Project, and the assembly was partnering SKYLINK Agro Solution Limited, a private firm, to start production.
For his part, Mr Asare said the agriculture directorate was deploying appropriate technology to improve agriculture productivity in the district, adding that 812 smallholder farmers were being targeted for support under Planting for Food and Job phase two.
The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Asiamah, indicated that there was no need for Ghana to import food from neighbouring countries “when we have the capacity to feed ourselves” commending farmers for the role in agriculture production.
He urged the chiefs to help fight illegal gold mining, commonly known as “galamsey” that was threatening agriculture production and environment.
Mr Asiamah spoke on the need to embrace peace before, during and after the elections to uphold Ghana’s image as “model of democracy.”
The Adokwai Chief, Dasebre Agyei, called for support for farmers for their role in human survival saying that, “If farmers are not there we can’t exist because they provide us with food to eat.”
He called on the government to improve education and health infrastructure in the district and also telecommunication services.
FROM ALHAJI SALIFU ABDUL-RAHAMAN, ADANSI ADOKWAI
