By Philip Tengzu, GNA
Guo, (UWR), Dec. 7, GNA – A thirty-one-year
old farmer, Mr Fuseini Souyaar from Jambusi, has been adjudged the Wa West
District Best Farmer in the 2019 National Farmers Day commemoration held at Guo
in the Wa West District.
He took home a tricycle, a pair of
wellington boots, three cutlasses, knapsack sprayer, radio set and raincoat
among others.
Mr Souyaar is a commercial producer of
maize, groundnut, sorghum, cowpea among others and engages in livestock
production with 130 cows, 60 fouls and 50 guinea fowls.
The first runner-up, Mr Bourazu Dari from
Woloyiri, also took home a V.G.L motorbike, pair of wellington boots, two
cutlasses, Knapsack sprayer, radio set and raincoat among others.
The second runner-up, Mr Babile Dabuor from
Chabari community was also given a V.G.L motorbike, pair of wellington boots,
cutlass, knapsack sprayer, radio set and raincoat among other items.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency after
receiving the award, Mr Souyaar commended the District Assembly and government
for conferring on him, the Best Farmer for the Wa West District.
He said the award would serve as a
motivation to him to scale up his farming activities and would also challenge
other farmers to enhance their farming activities.
Mr Souyaar, however, identified lack of market
for their produce and poor road network, which affected farmers’ ability to
cart their produce to the market centres as some of the challenges militating
against their farming activities.
Mr Edawrd Laabiir Sabo, the Wa West District
Chief Executive, commended the award winners and farmers in general for their
unwavering commitment to contributing to the development of the agriculture
sector and ensuring food security.
He said, in spite of the adverse climate
condition, which resulted in poor rainfall and low investment in the
agriculture sector, farmers still played their role of contributing to the
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the nation.
Mr Sabo said government was working through
the introduction of the Planting for Food and Jobs and Planting for Export and
Rural Development programmes among others to improve the agricultural sector.
“I am happy to announce to you that, to
further boost our agric sector as a district, the Assembly has received two
tractors with accessories, ten power tillers with accessories, six maize
sheller machines, four irrigation machines with accessories, and 20 motorised
sprayers from government, which will be used to support agriculture in the
district”, he explained.
The DCE said some major roads in the
district including; the 4.5km Nako-Polee road, 5km Polee-Jorliretoo road and
1.5km Tanina-Polee road among others, were awarded on contract under the
District Development Fund (DDF) to help improve economic activities in the
area.
Mr Sabo said other agricultural projects in the
district such as; the one-village-one-dam programme aimed at improving farming
activities were also in place.
Mr Joseph Kambunaba, the Wa West District
Agriculture Director, noted that about 90 per cent of the people in the
district were farmers hence the commitment of the Assembly and government to
implement policies and programmes to improve on farmers’ living standards.
He advised farmers to see farming as a
business and to shift from subsistence farming to large scale agriculture as
source of employment.
This year’s event, on the theme: “Enhancing
Small Scale Agriculture towards Agribusiness Development”, saw 26 farmers in
the Wa West District receiving prizes.
GNA
