Wassa East District honours 20 farmers

By Justina Paaga, GNA

Wassa-Ekutuase (W/R), Dec. 4, GNA - The Wassa East District has honoured 20 farmers with various prizes for their contribution to the growth and development of agriculture in the area.

The prize winners received certificates, corn mills, Knapsack sprayers, wax prints, cutlasses, gas cylinders, roofing sheets, sewing machines, bicycles, radio sets, wellington boots, bags wheat bran and T-shirts.

Mr John Mensah, 27, from Dompim, who was adjudged the Best District Farmer received, a corn mill, six machetes, two pairs of wellington boots, two boxes of Knapsack sprayers, gas cylinder, a T- Shirt, a full piece of wax print and a certificate.

He cultivated 15 acres of rice, five acres of oil palm, three acres of cocoa, two acres of cassava, one acre of plantain, one and half acres of maize, half acre of garden eggs as well as 15 coconut trees.

He also rears 30 sheep, 30 local fowls and five goats.

Madam Evelyn Andoh, 58, was adjudged the Best Female Farmer, whiles Madam Comfort Ackon, 45, a widow, was adjudged the Best Physically Challenged Farmer with the Dwineae School receiving the Best School Farm award.   

Mr Wilson Arthur, District Chief Executive of Wassa East District, who addressed the well-attended durbar of chiefs and people of Wassa-Ekutuase, lauded the efforts of farmers for helping to ensure that the nation’s food needs are met.

He said the district places much importance on agriculture since seven out of 10 people in the district are farmers adding that the time has come for farmers to modernize and add value to their produce so as to get good prices and also meet the ever changing market demands.

Mr Arthur said the Planting for Food and Jobs programme was introduced to help farmers add value to their produce and that the Wassa East District was concentrating on cassava, oil palm and cocoa production.

He said with the cassava, it would be processed into industrial starch and ethanol whiles a big oil mill would be established at Daboase to process oil palm for the local and international markets.

Mr Arthur said under the programme, farmers are being supplied with high yielding seeds and cocoa seedling as well as the introduction of artificial pollination of cocoa which has resulted in high yields on many cocoa farms.

He urged the youth to take advantage of the Planting for Food and Jobs programme to go into farming as a full time business to enable them improve upon their living condition.

Mr Isaac Adjei Mensah, Member of Parliament for Wassa East, said farmers play an important role in ensuring food security, hence the  institution of the special day to honour farmers, which has been observed by subsequent governments.

He urged farmers to consider cultivating all food crops including spices so that government would not have to import spices from abroad.

Mr Adjei-Mensah said the Wassa East District was one of the food baskets of the Western Region adding that he would do everything in his capacity as MP to help with the development of agriculture in the area.

The day was celebrated under the theme: “Planting for Food and Jobs”.

The Wassa East District is using three days to celebrate this year’s famers day, apart from the awards, there will be a football gala and the inauguration of a rock shrine and a water fall at Domama and Atobiase respectively.

GNA

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