Hayfod Yeboah wins Birim Central Municipality best farmer

A 51- year old farmer at Akyem Essam near Oda in the Eastern Region, Hayford Yeboah, was crowned the overall best municipal best farmer in the Birim Central Municipality at the 40th farmers' day celebration held at Akyem Aboabo last Friday.

He was presented with 10 machetes,10 bags of NPK fertilisers, six boxes of weedicides, five pairs of Wellington boots, half piece of cloth, one double-decker refrigerator, a 50-inch colour television set and three Knapsack spraying machines and a certificate of honour.

Nine other outstanding farmers and an agricultural extension officer were also honoured at the ceremony to bring the total number of awardees to 11.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Birim Central, Joyce Adjoa Agyeiwaa, congratulated the awardees on their hard work and encouraged the  farmers who did not win awards to maximise their output in order to be honoured in the years ahead.

Planting for Food

She said since the beginning of the year, the government, had through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture under the Planting for Food and Jobs programme, supplied farming inputs such as NPK, UREA , AGRA rice seed and lake maize worth GH¢753,950 to 345 registered farmers and 215 vulnerable in the municipality to support their production in the minor season and also to reduce the effect of the dry spell experienced during the major season.

Besides, the government, through the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture Development bank launched Agriculture for Food and Jobs on July 31, 2024 in the Central Region after which 50 youth within the municipality were trained on good agronomic practices in agriculture by a consultant after which the training programme supplied one tarpaulin tank, 1,100 catfish fingerlings and six bags of feed to each beneficiary through the municipal assembly.

Food Security

Ms Agyeiwaa said in the request to build climate resilient agriculture for sustainable food security, the municipality in collaboration with the Mineral Commission Ghana under their Alternative 1 Livelihood Project supplied farmers within the municipality with 87,196 improved oil palm seedlings worth GH¢1,569,528 in support of the government's Planting for Export and Rural Development project.

The MCE seized the opportunity to appeal to the leaders of the various political parties to ensure the prevailing peace and stability in the country by advising their supporters to conduct their campaigns with decorum devoid of rancour, intimidation, vituperation devoid of the use of hate language.

The Member of Parliament for Oda, Alexander Akwasi Acquah, enumerated the numerous assistance the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo- led government had offered farmers in the country since 2017, including increasing the producer price of cocoa from GH¢475 to GH¢3,000 per bag.

He therefore, urged Ghanaians to vote for Dr Mahamudu Bawumia as the president on December 7, 2024 in order to continue to enjoy good governance and accelerated national development.