The overall Best Farmer for the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal District in the Western Region, Dr Kojo Owusu-Koranteng, on Friday urged the government to promote farmers’ groups to create a strong voice for farmers to articulate their needs and concerns to government.
According to him, food was an important human need but despite the agricultural potential of the nation, farming had remained a “cutlass and hoe business” which had denied the agricultural sector the needed investment to transform peasant agriculture from its low level productivity to medium to large scale farming.
He said the agricultural sector of Ghana could only be transformed when the government targets smallholder farmers who have the commitment, passion and indigenous knowledge to become the agents of change in the transformation of agribusiness in Ghana.
Dr Owusu-Koranteng, who is a Medical Officer at the Tarkwa Municipal Hospital and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kowus Farms, was speaking to journalists after been adjudged the municipal best farmer for Tarkwa– Nsuaem, explained that his parents were agricultural officers who made backyard gardening, farming, fish farming, rearing of fowls and beekeeping part of the life of their family, and that became the foundation of his interest in farming.
He commended peasant farmers for working so hard to provide the food needs of Ghanaians and called on the government to increase the support to smallholder farmers because that was the best route to transform agriculture from its peasant nature to middle to large scale agribusiness.
He lamented that many agricultural programmes initiated by the government had failed because the people who had made farming part of their passion and daily lives did not have access to resources to increase their investment in agribusiness.
“Ghana is well-endowed naturally to make agriculture the foundation for national development through investment in agro processing, proper packaging of agricultural products for exports, training of the youth in agribusiness, among others,” he said.
According to Dr Owusu-Koranteng, he started the livestock section with five pigs and later added sheep and goats to the farm. Today, he has hundred pigs in addition his to sheep and goats.
Sharing his thoughts on how the government could modernise agriculture, Dr Kojo Owusu-Koranteng explained that the government must integrate technology with improvement in infrastructure and sustainable practices in the agribusiness.
Dr Owusu –Koranteng, for his prize, received an Apsonic tricycle -1 , STIHL petrol Mistbrower-1, Yara Activa (50kg) -2, Amoniumsulphur (50kg)-5, Knapsack sprayer, Refrigerator, Latex Foam double size mattress, Hisense”50” flat screen TV , Safety boots, weedicide box and other agaric inputs.
FROM TIMES REPORTER, TARKWA
