OBOMENG HOSTS EASTERN REGION FARMERS' DAY (Page 20)

Story: A. Kofoya-Tetteh, Adawso

The Eastern Regional Farmers’ Day celebrations scheduled for Tease in the Kwahu North District had to be shifted to Obomeng in the Kwahu South District last Friday where that district’s celebration was being held.
That was because the only pontoon, the safest means to cross the Afram Lake from Adawso to Ekye-Amanfrom had broken down.
As a result, the Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Affram Asiedu, his deputy, Mr Ofosu Asamoah, officials of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), farmers selected from the various parts of the region for awards as well as pressmen were stranded at the lake town of Adawso, waiting impatiently for the technicians and engineers to repair the faulty pontoon.
After about four hours when it became obvious that the pontoon could not be used, a decision was taken to go by outboard motor-powered canoes eqiupped with life jackets, but the award-winning farmers refused to go, with the explanation that it was risky.
Although the District Chief Executive for Kwahu North, Mr Solomon Fordjour, crossed the lake with a canoe from Ekye-Amanfrom to Adawso to demonstrate that it was safe to go by canoes, the award-winning farmers stood their ground.
The regional minister therefore directed the large entourage to join participants of the event at Obomeng at the last hour, during which a 44-year-old farmer from Batabi in the Birim South District Benjamin Blackie Forson emerged from the 21 others to take the ultimate prize as the region’s best.
He took home a corn mill, sewing and spraying machines, six machetes, a piece of wax print, agro-chemicals and other items.
The 20 other farmers selected as the best in other categories such as maize, oil palm, piggery, cassava, cocoa and non-traditional products such as beekeeping and grasscutter breeding were also presented with a number of items.
Mr Affram Asiedu in an address said since agriculture was the main economic activity in the region, employing 67 per cent of its work force, his outfit and the MoFA had intensified their activities to ensure that the success chalked up in agricultural production would be improved upon.
He said sustainable farming systems had the capacity of reducing environmental degradation and promoting economic viability in both the short and long terms, and urged farmers in the region to adopt good farming practices.
Mr Afram Asiedu said the government for its part would continue to ensure that farmers had the necessary inputs and access to funds, adding that so far GH¢54,747.30 had been disbursed as loans to 186 farmers’ groups in the region.
The regional minister who also mentioned the mass cocoa spraying exercise and the Cocoa Hi-Tech programme as other government interventions to boost agriculture production, congratulated farmers, especially the award winners, for their enormous contribution to the economy of the region.