Ibrahim Musah crowned 2015 Best Farmer
A 48-year-old farmer from Dormaa Ahenkro in the Dormaa Municipality in the Brong Ahafo Region, Mr Ibrahim Musah, was yesterday adjudged this year's National Best Farmer at a colourful ceremony held in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.
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For his achievement, Mr Musah, who has been farming for the past 13 years, will receive a fully furnished three-bedroom house to be constructed for him in any part of the country that he chooses. He also received GH¢3,000 from Kasapreko Company Limited and a laptop, among other prizes.
He is married with six children.
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Mr Musah, who has not had any formal education, owns the IM Unity Farm Company Limited, which has about 440 acres of crops, including 100 acres of cocoa plantation. In animal rearing, Mr Musah has 150,000 poultry (layers), 200 broilers, 10 boxes of beehives and two fish ponds stocked with tilapia and catfish.
His farms are at Yaokrom and Kofiasuah, both in the Dormaa municipality and he employs 108 workers.
He also owns timber species like teak and terminalia.
A citation read at the function indicated that Mr Musah's farm "is highly diversified with his crop enterprise covering the broad areas of roots and tubers like cassava, yam and cocoyam; vegetables like tomatoes, pepper and okra, as well as plantation crops."
The first runner-up was 43-year-old Mr Augustine Boateng from the Asunafo North District in the Brong Ahafo Region, who took home a tractor donated by the Export Development and Agricultural Fund (EDAIF).
Forty-nine-year-old Ms Charity Akortia from the Agona West District in the Central Region was adjudged the second runner-up. She received a double-cabin pickup vehicle donated by Stanbic Bank. Ms Akortia, a trained teacher, has been farming for the past 22 years.
The overall National Best Fisherman award went to Mr Ebenezer Afful, 57, from Axim in the Western Region. He received a JAC double-cabin truck. A Middle School Leaving Certificate holder, Mr Afful has 200 employees and has been in the fishing industry for the past 41 years.
Other categories
There were other categories of awards such as the Most Promising Young Cocoa Farmer; Most Enterprising Female Cocoa Farmer; Best Agricultural Extension Officers, Best Seed Grower and Best Farmer-based Organisation.
Others were: Best Seed Producer, Best Animal Traction Award and Best Butcher and Slaughter Award. The physically challenged were not left out as Mr Baba Paskpema from Gambaga in the Northern Region was honoured.
They award winners were given refrigerators, outboard motors, tricycles, ghetto blasters, irrigation pumps, fishing nets as well as computers and their accessories.
In all, 78 farmers were awarded.
Best farmer
On behalf of his colleagues, an elated Mr Musah thanked the entire country for their prayers which enabled them to win the awards. He said he had the conviction that one day his hard work and dedication to farming would pay off. He, therefore, entreated other farmers to take farming seriously as a way of enhancing their incomes.
Mr Musah also appealed to the government to support farmers with the necessary credit facilities and farm inputs.
Dignitaries
Dignitaries at the function included the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Fifi Kwetey; the Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Ms Sherry Ayittey; Dr Hannah Bisiw, Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture in charge of Livestock; the Minister of the Interior, Mr Mark Woyongo; the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr James Tiigah, and his deputy, Mr Daniel Syme, traditional rulers and former national best farmers.
The Vice-President, Mr Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, could not attend the function because flights to the northern part of the country were cancelled due to bad weather.
Background
The National Farmers Day was instituted by the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) government in 1985 in recognition of the vital role farmers and fishermen play in the economy, especially the highly commendable output of farmers and fishermen in 1984 during which agriculture accounted for 30 per cent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
This achievement came after the bad agricultural years of 1982 and 1983 which saw the nation experiencing drought and wild bush fires.The day is therefore intended to motivate farmers and encourage them to produce more.
The first National Farmers Day was celebrated on the first Friday of December 1986 at Osino in the Eastern Region. The first best farmer received two machetes, a pair of Wellington boots and a preset radio.
The value of the awards, however, has been improving each year, moving from bicycles to power tillers, tractors, pickups and since the year 2002, the national best farmers are given three-bedroom houses.
The last time the celebration was held in the Upper East Region was in 1999.
