Govt. must assist farmers with land acquisition -Tema best farmer

56-year-old James Kweku Thompson Bosompra, who started farming as a hobby, has won the 2016 Tema best farmers' award.

In order to get more persons engaged in farming, James Bosompra said the government should assist farmers with the acquisition of lands, while he entreated chiefs to reserve vast parcels of land for their youth who would like to enter into farming.

James Bosompra, a middle school graduate, until 2010, when he decided to go into full scale farming, was cultivating tomatoes and onions on less than a half acre of land at Michel Camp, Tema.

He was motivated to go into full time farming when his subsistence farming began fetching some substantial income.

Since 2010, he had been able to raise 40 sheep, 77 goats, 56 turkeys, 2,500 cockerels and 36 local birds.

Besides, he had 5.5 acres of land on which he cultivated onions, tomatoes and plantain.

James Bosompra had three permanent workers and a casual worker who helped him and his wife on his farm.

In his acknowledgement speech, he advised the unemployed youth to venture into agriculture which most Ghanaians consider to be the preserve for the uneducated or illiterates. The middle school graduate said farming has now become lucrative.

He commended the farmers in the metropolis and nationwide for their daily toils on their farmlands.

“Farming is very tiring but lucrative,” James Thompson Bosompra indicated.

Mr Adjei Annang, Member of Council of State and chairman for the occasion congratulated farmers for their hard work and commitment to ensure that everybody is fed in the country.

He was, however, unhappy that Ghanaians were divided along political lines, thereby affecting the distribution of farming materials.

He said Ghanaians have over the years painted a gloomy picture of agriculture, when according to him facts on the ground were different.

He called for attitudinal change of the Ghanaian, advising that governments should be supported in their bid to help grow agriculture.

Mr. Annang appealed to chiefs and clans to willingly release lands for farming to save the country huge revenues spent on food imports.

Similarly, in Ashaiman, Abdul Malik Yaaya was adjudged the best farmer for the 32nd celebration. He is into livestock production and has a mango plantation at Dodowa.

Abdul Malik Yaaya, in his acknowledgement speech, appealed to the Ashaiman Traditional Council to reserve lands for farming.

He was unhappy that most farmlands in Ashaiman had been haphazardly sold out to developers when vast lands could be reserved for farming to feed the citizens.

Ibrahim Baidoo, Ashaiman Municipal Assembly Chief Executive, thanked the farmers for keeping faith in the government's efforts in ensuring that their needs were supplied in time.

The theme for this year's celebration was -'Agriculture, a business response to economic growth' and Mr. Baidoo underscored that agriculture's importance to poverty reduction went beyond its direct impact on the farmer's income.

He explained that it is the driver for the economy and the best hope for food security in Ghana and the world at large.

In order to expand their businesses, he said the assembly had established the Business Advisory Center that would prepare farmers, agro processors and fish mongers to access funding arrangement from EDIF, GTZ and Rural Enterprise Fund.

The Ashaiman Assembly, he added, had taken steps to flush out people who had illegally encroached on the IDA lands.

Ibrahim Baidoo announced that the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) had supplied the assembly with crop seeds for distribution to the farmers who had their fields destroyed by the June 2015 rains in Ashaiman.

The items were worth GHc204,360 and they included 12,000kg of rice, 45kg of onions and 10,000kg maize.

The FAO additionally assisted the assembly in de-silting the main drain at the dam site.

From Inusa Musah, Tema.