Mr Isaac Egyam, a 31-year-old with six years’ experience in farming was on Friday, December 1, 2023 adjudged the Overall Best Farmer in the Effutu Municipality at the 39th Municipal Farmers Day Celebration held at New Winneba, a community in the Municipality.
Mr Egyam with a total cropped area of twenty (20) acres of green pepper, three (3) acres of Maize, two (2) acres of cassava, two (2) acres of cucumber, one (1) acre of beans, twenty (20) goats and ten (10) birds was presented with a tricycle, knapsack sprayers, wellington boots, cutlasses, fertilizers and weedicides for his efforts over the past year.
In his welcome address, the Effutu Municipal Director for the Department of Agriculture, Mr. Ebenezer Azasu torched on the theme for the celebration, “Delivering Smart Solution for Sustainable Food Security and Resilience” to call for an urgent attention in the country’s agricultural systems to enable her meet the rising demand for and raw materials for industries amidst an increasing population environment challenge caused by climate change with its resultant floods and dry spells.
He said that ensuring sustainable food security requires farmers to be market oriented or agribusiness conscious with a mindset change towards seeing agriculture more of a business venture than as a way of life.
Mr. Azasu charged farmers to lend themselves to the requisite education to appreciate the value chain of which they are part and understand the role of each actor from input supply to the final consumer.
He announced that the hard work and efforts of farmers in Effutu had caught the eyes of the international community with the Korean Government through the Korea International Corporation Agency (KOICA) selecting the Effutu Municipality for a multipurpose vegetable processing facility to process and store vegetables to reduce and prevent post-harvest losses.
The District according to him, has also been selected as the only District in the region to benefit from a World Bank funded project dubbed the “West Africa Food Systems Resilience Project” which aims at improving the sub-region’s preparedness against food insecurity and enhancement of its food systems resilience.
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for the Effutu Municipal Assembly, Hon. Alhaji Zubairu Kassim said the theme for this year’s celebration resonates deeply with a commitment at ensuring a prosperous and secured future for the country’s agriculture.
He said as part of efforts to take advantage of opportunities in the agricultural sector, “the government since its inception had introduced and continue to give improved seeds and subsidized fertilizer to farmers to enable them to increase their production”.
Hon. Zubairu Kasssim reaffirmed the commitment of the Assembly at supporting the Agricultural sector with innovative and sustainable ways towards embracing the theme for the celebration with smart solutions, recognizing the pivotal role technology plays in enhancing agricultural practices.
He intimated that the Assembly was committed to investing in smart farming initiatives, integrating modern technologies to optimize yields as well as minimize environmental impact, and support food security.
The MCE made a passionate appeal to the traditional authorities in the Municipality to make lands available for the international projects earmarked to be situated in the area to enhance the realization of sustainable food security and resilience to boost the local economy.
In all 15 awardees received awards in 15 categories with the 1st and 2nd runner-up positions going to Messrs. Wisdom Kodjo Dorgbetor and Nii Adjei Baddoo respectively.
STORY BY: CHARLES BAAH ABOAGYE -ISD
Last modified: December 2, 2023
