By
Emmanuel Todd, GNA
Accra, Dec. 6, GNA –
Mr Dotse Anaglate, the 2019 Overall Best Farmer in the Ashaiman Municipality of
Greater Accra Region, has appealed to chiefs and other national leaders to help
in preserving farmlands from encroachment.
He also encouraged
the youth to embrace careers in agriculture, saying it was profitable and
rewarding, as it kept people alive and propelled national economic growth.
Mr Anaglate was
addressing the celebrants at the Assembly’s 35th Farmer’s Day event, at which
15 others were rewarded for their distinguished output towards food production
and security.
The national
celebration is on the theme: “Enhancing Small Scale Agriculture Towards
Agribusiness Development”.
Mr Anaglate received
a television set, refrigerator, knapsack sprayer, wheelbarrow, bicycle,
cutlass, some compost and other fertilisers, and agro-chemicals and farming
boots.
His farm located at
the Ashaiman Roman Down includes a poultry, cattle ranch, tilapia farm, a
piggery, and a cold store.
Mr Anaglate has
supported four persons to cultivate their farms successfully.
Madam Woelorm
Kunutsor Hyde is his First Runner-Up; with Mr John Akpalu as the Second
Runner-Up.
The
other award categories are: Best Crop Farmer – Stephen Fiati
Best Livestock
Farmer – Ebenezer Kabutey
Best Physically
Challenged Farmer – Mr Wisdom Mensah Gakpetor
Best Female Farmer –
Dorcas Ghartey
Best Youth Farmer –
Evans Korletey
Best Fish Farmer –
Joseph Odai Okoe
Best Processor –
Francis Gasu
Best Non-Traditional
Farmer – Isaac Ofori
Best Backyard Farmer
– Musah Gabriella
Best Agriculture
Extension Agent – Sethina Atta
Best Farmer Group –
IDA Farmers
Best NABCO Trainee
Farmer – Charles Prince Gyadu and Best National Service Farmer – Freeman Kwame
Alorgbey.
Mr Albert Boakye,
Municipal Chief Executive, commending farmers and fishermen for their
sacrifices, urged the government and other stakeholders to support them to
acquire advanced and smart technologies to enhance productivity.
“These
climate-adaptation technological inputs would ensure that there is sustainable
food production and security to meet the nutritional needs of the nation’s
growing population”.
He said it was
important to promote commercial farming to facilitate agribusiness development
and profitability.
He condemned the
encroachment on farmland by developers and the pollution of the canal through
the dumping of refuse and solid waste.
Mr Boakye cautioned
the perpetrators to stop, saying, the Assembly had put in place a team to
enforce the law against such acts.
Dr John Nunya
Agbemenu, Director of Agriculture, supported the appeal for smart technologies,
saying it would make farming appealing to the youth.
He encouraged the
youth to take advantage of the government’s interventions in the agricultural
sector to become entrepreneurs.
“Investment in
Agriculture is not a waste of resource”, he emphasised.
In an interview with
the Ghana News Agency, Madam Hyde, a livestock farmer, urged those working in
the corporate world to invest in farming as a complementary profession.
“Farming pays
if you commit to it and invest appropriately,” she said.
Mr Akpalu also advised the youth not to
consider farming as a business for the illiterate but seek the right guidance
and go into it to end their joblessness.
Mr Gakpetor, who
engages in mixed farming, advised persons with physical disabilities to go into
farming instead of resorting to begging for their upkeep.
GNA
