Stories From Richard Attenkah
Alhaji Osuman Issah, a 62 year old farmer who resides at Adjei-Kojo, has been crowned Overall Best Farmer in the Tema Metropolis, at the 2013 annual ceremony organised by the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) to honour farmers.
The 62 year old farmer, who has two wives with 12 children, was adjudged the Overall Best Farmer for Tema, because he had a five acre onion farm, five acre maize farm, sweet pepper farm, tomato farm, 30 cattle and rearing of other ruminants.
Other award winners and the categories in which they received their awards are as follows; Gabriel Amegbetor (best maize farmer), John Ayiku Bosompra (best pepper farmer), Mustapha Mawuzu (best onion farmer) and Comfort Nsor (best exotic vegetable farmer).
The rest are Mohammed Alhassan (best small ruminant farmer), Abdulai Mohammed (best cattle farmer), Daniel Kwao (best inshore fisher), Kotei Mensah (best canoe fisher) and Beauty Awia (best fish processor).
Speaking under the theme; “Reducing Post Harvest Losses for Sustainable Food Security and Nutrition,” Mr. Isaac Ashai Odamtten, Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive, commended the enormous contribution and efforts of our hard working farmers, fishers and agro processors, who produce food to feed us, and raw material for the industries.
He hinted that the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Clement Kofi Humado, has called on all stakeholders to join forces with the government to tackle post-harvest issues in the country.
“Plans are underway to develop a comprehensive post-harvest strategy that will address specific commodity challenges and emerging issues confronting the growth of agriculture,” he added.
Emmanuel Adjei Annan, a member of the Council of State, who was Chairman for the occasion, encouraged the youth to go into farming, because it was a lucrative venture, saying since one source of income was not enough to financially cushion them, farming was another area where financial satisfaction could be realised.
He further urged Ghanaians to plan for themselves backyard farms on which they can fall on for fresh pepper, onions and other food stuffs for domestic upkeep, and commended ex-Head of State Ignatius Kutu Acheampong for introducing “Operation Feed Yourself,” which inculcated the backyard farming spirit into Ghanaians many years ago.