The Minister of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has on behalf of ADB and Government, presented Ghc 570,000 to the 2020 National Best Farmer of Ghana, Solomon K. Kusi.
Dr Akoto made the presentation on Wednesday, April 21, 2021.
Managing Director of ADB, Dr. John Kofi Mensah, initially handed over the Ghc 570,000 cheque to the Minister who in turn presented it to the farmer.
The presentation ceremony took place at the forecourt of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in Accra.
Speaking at the ceremony, Dr. Akoto stated that Government and ADB have agreed to continue with the “flexible” arrangement which allows the ultimate winner of the farmers’ competition to decide how to spend the ultimate prize.
According to him, Government through the Agriculture Ministry was also looking at how to restructure the National farmers awards scheme to ensure that more farmers were recognized.
He seized the opportunity to urge ADB to restructure its operations to ensure access to funding to individuals who want to invest in agriculture, especially the rice value chain.
He explained that for Ghana to achieve the target of producing 1.2 million metric tonnes of rice will require a sound investment, thus the need to making funding accessible.
The 2020 Farmers Day ceremony was held on November 6, in Techiman.
The Managing Director of ADB indicated that the bank received an
agric business proposal from Mr. Kusi through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
The document indicated that part of the money will be used to acquire and install cocoa drying house, expand most of his current operations and employee more people, according to Dr. Mensah.
By Melvin Tarlue