40th National Farmers' Day: Obuasi East Municipal Assembly Honors Gallant Farmers

The Obuasi East Municipal Assembly formerly the Obuasi East district has joined the rest of the country to celebrate farmers in the country for their role towards food security and Socioeconomic development of the country.

Held at Diawuoso a farming community in the Obuasi East Municipality , the event brought together farmers, agric officers, government officials, nananom and community members.

Celebrated under the theme “Building Climate-Resilient Agriculture for Sustainable Food Security”, the aim was to promote sustainable agriculture practices, enhancing farmers’ knowledge and skills, fostering collaboration among stakeholders and recognizing farmers’ achievement.

Ofori Thomas a 61-year-old farmer from Diawuoso was crowned the Municipal best farmer for 2024. He has cultivated plants like Cassava, Maize, Cocoyam, Oil palm, Pepper, Ginger, Okra, Tomatoes, Yam, Orange, Plantain, Cocoa and Onion.

There were also awards for the Best Youth Farmer, Best Woman Farmer, Best Oil Palm Farmer, Best Vegetable Farmer among others. The winners received prizes like, television set, potable seed planter, certificates and other farm inputs, to support their farming activities.

The Municipal Chief Executive of the Obuasi East Municipal, Hon. Faustina Amissah in her key note address commended Farmers in the Municipality for their contributions towards the economic development of the Municipality.

She said it was appropriate for the nation to set aside a day like this to recognize their achievements and efforts and to also urge them on to continue to work hard towards food sustainance and national development.

Honorable Amissah ndicated that the Municipality has received strong support from the government over the years. She said that Under the leadership of the of H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo and a collaborative efforts of the agriculture ministry, the following agriculture tailored government flagship program were implemented: Planting for Food and Jobs, Planting for Export and Rural Development, One District One Factory and the control program of Fall Army Worm.

On the Planting for Food and Jobs program, she said the PFJ has provided farmers with improved Planting Materials that are drought tolerant and has a short time maturity period. She said under the second phase of PFJ, One Thousand Five Hundred and Seventy – One (1,571) registered farmers on Agriculture and Agribusiness Platform and out of that eight hundred and seventy-one (871) benefited from grant inputs such as fertilizers, hybrid seeds and insecticides.

She also seized the opportunity to admonish the youth to take up farming saying " the nation’s future depends on your decision to take up farming, the average age of farmers keeps on increasing, and we need your energy innovation and passion to revolutionize agriculture by adding modern day agriculture practice and technology".

The Municipal Chief Executive called for peace ahead of the 2024 general election, urging everyone to promote a peaceful and united process.

Speaking to the media, the Municipal Best farmer Ofori Thomas who could not hide his joy thanked the Agriculture Department for the good relationship with farmers in the municipality and also added his voice to calls for the youth to venture into agriculture.

He took home a Television Set, Motorized Tricycle (Aboboyaa), Machetes, Wellington Boot, Pieces of GTP wax print, Knapsack sprayer, Sunphosate and others all sponsored by AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi Mine.