2022 Best Farmer lauded for establishing centre for knowledge transfer
The Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has commended the 2022 Nation Best Farmer, Nana Yaw Sarpong Siriboe, for establishing a centre to provide hands-on training and technical support for students in agriculture.
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Known as the Siriboe Institute of Agribusiness and Skills Development (SIAS), the three-storey edifice has a 700-seater hall for lectures, demonstrations and a workshop.
It also has a crèche for young student mothers who intend to acquire knowledge without having to sacrifice their maternal obligations, a cafeteria and a farm enclave that contains a fishpond, a grasscutter farm and a plantation.
Dr Bawumia was speaking at a ceremony to inaugurate the edifice at Bomfa in the Ejisu Municipality in the Ashanti Region yesterday.
Present were the Omanhene of Bompata, Nana Effah Apenteng; the Omanhene of New Juaben, Daasebre Kwaku Boateng; the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, and the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum.
The rest were the Ashanti Regional Director of Agriculture, Rev. Dr John Manu, some technocrats, students and natives of Bomfa.
Achievements
The Vice-President said the achievements of Nana Yaw Sarpong Siriboe were worthy of emulation.
The building
“If I heard your father (Juabenhene, Daasebre Otuo Siriboe II) right during his address, he said the seed money for this edifice was the GH¢1 million you received as prize for emerging the 2022 National Best Farmer.
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“You could have used the money on yourself, but you chose to invest in youth in agriculture,” he said.
Rationale
The Founder of SIAS, Nana Siriboe, said the mission of the institute was to train and equip the youth with both theoretical and technical skills in agribusiness to empower them to operate their enterprises effectively.
“Our mission is to become a centre of excellence for research-based agribusiness and entrepreneurship education in Africa,” he said.
For his part, Nana Otuo Siriboe II, proposed the building of a dormitory block at the centre to make teaching and learning less burdensome for students, especially those who live far away.
He also said that considering the vast Siriboe Farms Limited where the institute was sited, the traditional authority would offer the needed assistance to the institute to expand into a technical university in the future.