2021 Municipal’s Best Farmer; A 51 Years Old Woman

For a very long time in the history of Municipality, a 51 year old married woman was crowned as the overall best farmer for the Municipality during the 37th National Farmers day celebration on 3rd December, 2021 at Kobiriti, a suburb of the Municipality.

She was honored a tricycle popularly known as Aboboyaa, a piece of cloth, Knapsack spraying machine, a pair of wellington boot, cutlasses, insecticides and a certificate.  In all, 25 farmers including youth and physically challenged  person were awarded and five recognition certificates honored to individuals and institutions.

Mrs. Deborah Osei, a native of Ejura emerged as the winner with 60 acres of Cashew plantation, 20 acres of maize, 13 acres of Oframoo trees, 12 acres of cowpea, 12 acres of cassava, 5 acres of mango, 5 acres of sweet potato, 5 acres of plantain, 1 acre of cocoa and 1 acre of citrus.  She also has 28 sheep, 21 goats, 53 local poultry and 6 ducks.

In terms of farm tools, Mrs. Osei has 1 motor cycle, 10 knapsack sprayer, 8 hoes, 15 cutlasses, 12 pair of Wellington boots, 10 tons of storage shed, a well constructed animal pen, a hand dug well and a 3-bedroom farm house.

In her acceptance speech, she commended the government for remembering the contribution of farmers for the development of the country.

She used the opportunity to encourage her fellow women in farming to take advantage of the various government policies and intervention seriously as she is not willing to hand over the baton to a man the following year but her fellow woman.

BENEFITS OF PFJ AND RFJ

The Municipal Chief Executive, Dr. Kingsley Osei in his speech commended the noble hard working farmers.  He said without them, the country cannot realize the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal No. 2, which requires that Nations seek sustainable solutions to end hunger in all forms by 2030.

He said he considered the theme for the year’s celebration

“Planting for Food and Jobs – Consolidating Food System in Ghana”,

as Agriculture development strategy principled on the knowledge that it had the intention of growing beyond the level it was, it could only be materialized through modernization and diversification.

He stated that the overall objective of agriculture modernization was to significantly increase the scale of production and productivity, improve food security, create employment opportunities and reduce the use of foreign exchange for food imports.

Hon. Dr. Osei lauded the government for introducing Planting for Food and Job (PFJ) in 2017 and Rearing for Food and Job (RFJ) in 2019 as the Municipality had benefited so much from it.

He said the Municipality received a total of 197,724 bags of NPK (25 KG), 45,412 bags Urea (25 KG), 28,180 Liters of Organic liquid fertilizers under PFJ; also 10,277 bags (45KG) of OPV Maize seed, 4,506 bags (45KG) of Hybrid Maize and 5,064 bags (40KG) of improved Rice seeds distributed to farmers. He said in all, 29,832 farmers comprising 22,354 males and 7,478 females had benefited from subsidized inputs under PFJ.

He further said under RFJ, the Municipality received 1000 improved cockerels and distributed to farmers at a subsidized price.

He added that this year (2021), a total of 815 breeding sheep were distributed to 32 out breeders, with each receiving 25 sheep under RFJ to improve their live stock farming.  He cited that after two years, out breeders are expected to repay 50 sheep each to be redistributed to other farmers.

The MCE seized the opportunity to explain to the people why there was shortage of supply of fertilizers.   He said due to the effect of COVID 19, most fertilizer producing countries had reduced the number of production, some companies had even shut down and other countries had banned exportation.

He said that had made demand to exceed supply and had shoot the price up at world market and the government need to renegotiate with the suppliers in order to get fertilizers for the program.

The Municipal Agric Director, Ben Leo in his address commended the government through the MAG program for the continue support to the Agric Department.

He said the Department had received 3 additional motor bikes making it 21 and Nissan pickup to facilitate extension delivery.  He added that the MAG program had also provided funds to boost Agricultural activities in the Municipality.

He highlighted that through their extension delivery activities like Home and Farms visit, establishment of Demonstrations, Farmers trainings, etc, they were able to transfer new technology to the farmers.

He cited that a total of 3,038 homes and farms were visited, also 32 crop demonstration plots established, a total of 77,495 farmers made up of 50,311 males and 27,184 females were reached with improved technologies.

He further cited that the fall army worm was controlled effectively through the swift intervention of extension agents and provision of chemicals by the government.

The Agric Director humbly appealed to Nananom to make it compulsory for those who come for lands for commercial farming to always maintain 10% of the allocated land for tree planting to help save the environment.