A 57-year-old Charity Akortia from Agona West District of the Central Region has been crowned the 2023 National Best Farmer at this year’s National Farmers Day celebration in Tarkwa.
She took home GHC1 million with other prizes, while 46-year-old Theophilus Ezenrane Ackah from Jomoro in the Western Region and 58-year-old Kwaku Yeboah Asiamah from Bono East region placed 1st and 2nd runner-up respectively.
The Vice President, Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia while handing over the prizes to the overall top three best farmers, said farmers and the agriculture sector are the cornerstones of the Ghanaian economy, hence congratulated them for their sacrifices in feeding the nation.
Dr. Bawumia added that Farmers Day must remind us of the goal of addressing food security.
“As we celebrate our heroic farmers and Co-actors in the agricultural value chain today, Farmers Day must be an occasion to remind ourselves that the new dynamics call for new strategies to realise our goals of food security, resilience, job creation, poverty reduction and prosperity”, he said.
He added that the government by way of strategy has since 2017 through the Planting for Food and Jobs initiative managed to address the threats to food security which calls for more.
“Ghana’s experience in the agricultural front demonstrates the government’s unwavering commitment to transform the sector and place it on a sound footing of accelerated development. These efforts that the government has put in since 2017 have yielded notable success through the flagship programme, planting for food and jobs.
“When you look at average growth rate of Ghana’s agricultural sector between 2013-2016 was 2.9%, but when we implemented the PFJ in 2017, the average growth rate between 2017 to 2022 was 6%. The significant growth rate enhance school food security, increases job opportunities and and supports emerging industries with raw materials“, he noted.
The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong on his part said the government is putting in place the right measures to sustain the gains made in the agricultural sector.
