Celebration Of 36th Farmer’s Day At Saviefe Agorkpo In Ho West District

The Ho West District Assembly held its 36th District Farmers Day Celebration on 6th November, 2020 at Saviefe Agorkpo on the theme: “Ensuring Agribusiness Development Under Covid 19 – Opportunities and Challenges”. In all fourteen (14) farmers were honoured for their outstanding contributions to economic development of the country.

The fourteen (14) awardees were made up of Best Crop Farmer, Best Youth Farmer, Best Physically Challenged Farmer, Best Female Farmer, Best Enterprising Queen Mother, Best Collaborating Farmer, Best Species Farmer, Best Livestock Farmer, Best Tree Crop Farmer, Best Service Provider and Best Agric Worker. Kpedze Senior High with 20 acres of maize, 25 acres of rice, 5 acres of yam, 8 acres of cassava, 4 acres of oil palm, 2 acres of Okro, 0.5 acres of cucumber, 0.5 acres of lettuce, 50 fowls and many others immerged the Overall Best Farmer, whiles Mr. Albert Munu and Mr. Akubia Sylvester took the second and third positions respectively.

The awardees items included Tricycle, Motor, Knapsak Sprayer, Field Boots, Standing Fan, Radio, Wire Mesh, Wax Print, Cutlass, and Certificate. In his address the District Chief Executive, Hon Ernest Victor Apau saluted all the hard working farmers for their immense contribution towards the nation’s food basket. He revealed that government has done a lot in all the sectors of the economy and the Agricultural Sector has seen an enormous boost with the introduction of the government flagship programs. Hon Apau noted that although Covid 19 has come to pose many challenges in the economy in general and the agriculture sector in particular, it has also brought some opportunities such as the high demand for fruits, vegetables and local foodstuffs and added that government is focusing on agribusiness and small scale up production from subsistence to commercial agriculture.

The Hon DCE touched on One Paramouncy One Farm, One Household One Fruit Tree, Nursing and distribution of seedlings, Ghana Productive Safety Net Project (GPSP) and the government flagship projects. He admonished the people to embrace peace during the general election on 7th December, 2020 and also appeal to landlords to release lands for farming. On his part the Member of Parliament for Ho West, Hon Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzra in his brief speech noted that his government will establish state farms, establish cocoa clinic for cocoa farmers and supply free fertilizer to farmers if voted into power.

He also advised the youth to desist from any electoral violence in the upcoming elections. The District Agric Director, Mr. Seth Rashid Asuo in his speech appreciated our gallant farmers for their selfless toil for mother Ghana. He revealed that a Rain Gauge Station has been established to enable the department get accurate records of rainfall figures and the number of wet days and then make the information available to farmers to help them know the rainfall intensity and also inform their decisions when planning their cropping calendar.

On emergency preparedness he stated that the department took delivery of a number of fall army work chemicals which were distributed freely to farmers to control the fall army worms on their farms. Farmers were also sensitized on pests and disease surveillance. Mr. Asuo stated further that organic farming has become the order of farming in the global world, for this reason, his outfit has constructed and converted urinals in most of the second cycle schools into harvestable one that will be use for farm demonstration purposes. He also touched on government flagship project, distribution of Afram Trees, Out Grower Scheme, Collaboration with stakeholders and Departmental Farms.

The District Environmental Health and Sanitation Officer educated the people on the need to adhere to the safety protocols. She noted that with the non compliance of the safety protocols, the second waves of the disease will be massive due to the dynamics of the virus. Nose masks were distributed to dignitaries present. The Paramount Chief of Saviefe in his address appealed to government to capture the Saviefe SHS under the Ministry of Education and also help them to build their traditional council.

The Ghana Health Service were also present to screen and check weight, Blood Pressure, Temperature, HIV Test, Glucose level and Malaria. The general public were also advised to let their political messages be devoid of hate speech in order to prevent violence during the 7th December, 2020 election. “Different Parties but One People”