The Aowin District Assembly in the Western Region has hailed a 53-year old man, Mr. Nicholas Wireku for emerging the overall best farmer in the district at a colourful ceremony held at Abochia.

In all 24 different awards were given to deserving farmers to commend them for their contributions to the country and also encourage them to double their outputs in subsequent years.

The awards scheme include oil palm, cassava, plantain, maize, tomato, cocoyam, cowpea, pepper, rice, citrus, agroforestry, acqua-culture, grass cutter, poultry, cattle, piggery and sheep. The rest are beekeeping, vegetable, best radio presenter on agriculture programs, best cocoa farmer, best agriculture extension agent and overall best farmer.

Scarcity of lands

Delivering a speech at the ceremony, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Aowin, Mr. Oscar Ofori Larbi said, feeding the world in 2050 when global population is expected to reach 9.6 billion presents one of the most daunting challenges of our time with scarcity of land and cliamate change dominating the problems of our time.

For this reason he said, the private sector, government and civil society must immediately set in motion the policies and investments that will increase productivity and reduce waste and loss throughout the agriculture value chain.

“This should be carried out by boosting agricultural output while conserving resources and improving people’s lives. Together, we must identify and implement sustainable pathways to sufficient, nutritious, affordable food and water,” he added.

Gov’t initiatives
He said, government will continue to roll out food security and emergency preparedness programs to reduce food and nutrition insecurity through modernized agriculture, management of national strategic stocks for emergencies and establish effective early warning systems.

He indicated that this would be achieved by constructing and rehabilitating new and existing irrigation fields respectively.
Mr. Larbi added that the ministry of food and agriculture would continue to implement youth in agriculture program.

“A total of 45,000 youth will benefit from block farm initiative, about 50, 000 hectors of land was targeted for production of maize, rice, cassava, sorghum and cowpea; whilst under livestock and poultry, a total of 2,500 guinea fowl keets and 5,000 broiler day old chicks would be produced to support and increase the capacity of local poultry farmers to produce enough for local consumption,” he added.

The Western-South Regional Chief Farmer for cocoa and sheanut, Mr. Johnson Mensah praised COCOBOD and the government for putting in measures to improve the lives of cocoa farmers.

He said, despite the fall of world cocoa prices, government continue to sustain price of coco as well as initiating road project in cocoa growing communities, scholarship packages to cocoa farmers’ wards, solar light projects, construction of housing schemes and provision of fertilizers to cocoa farmers on high subsidy.

Cocoa mass spraying
Mr. Mensah lauded the government for continuing the mass cocoa spraying program despite the challenges but appealed to the government to start the exercise on time to avoid swollen shoots which attacks and destroy their cocoa.

The District Director of Agriculture for Aowin, Mr Yaw Adu for his part also commended farmers for contributing immensely towards the development of the country by providing food, raw materials for industries and exportation of for foreign exchange.

Wise Zah/DIO, Aowin