Amanfrom(E/R), Nov. 07, GNA – Dr Felix Nana Sackey, a 53-year-old Chartered Account and a Doctorate Degree holder in Business Administration, has won the 2020 Best District Farmer in Okere.
Other 14 people were honoured for their hard work in various categories.
Dr Sackey has 1, 350 pigs, 255 ducks, 17 turkeys, 102 guinea fowls, 340 local birds, 70 sheep, 354 goats, a snail farm with over 1,500 snails, 18 acres of maize, one and a half acres of coconut, three acres of cassava and four acres of plantain.
Madam Margaret Ohene Manko, 55, was adjudged the best Woman Farmer, whiles Mr Ebenezer Amuzi, 50, won the best Physically Challenged Farmer and Mr Seth Annan, 34, the Best Youth Farmer.
The others were the best vegetable farmer, best mango farmer, best maize farmer, best plantain farmer, the best pineapple farmer, best livestock farmer and best poultry farmer, with a special award going to GreenGold Farms, a beneficiary of Okere District’s land bank project.
Mr Dan Kweku Botwe, Member of Parliament for Okere, said improved access roads to and from farming and market centres helped to attract investors as well as create employment and wealth, hence, the construction and upgrading of all roads linking the farming communities to market centres.
He said the government recognised road infrastructure as a key ingredient in the Planting for Food and Jobs programme and other interventions in improving the agricultural sector and commended the farmers for their hard work.
Mr Botwe disclosed that plans were underway to provide duty stations in the form of accommodation for the Agriculture Extension Officers in the farming communities to make the services of the Extention Officers more accessible to the farmers as an innovation to enhance the sector, in the district.
Mr Daniel Kenneth, Okere District Chief Executive, indicated that the Assembly had distributed 87,000 mango and 60, 000 oil palm seedlings to farmers, under the Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) programme as well as 12 motorbikes to facilitate work of the Agricultural extension officers in the area.
He indicated that the Assembly had revived abandoned state farms and cultivating 50 acres of oil palm to support the PERD programme to create jobs for the Okere people.
He disclosed that “from next year, Okere, under the One District One Factory (1D1F), would be focusing on cassava and rebranding of our Okere Gari to boost gari production and marketing.”
Nana Odwo Kwao, Chief of Amanfrom, noted that farming was equally an important profession and urged farmers to see farming as a business and give off their best to enhance the food needs and security in the country.
GNA