Flashback: The National Best Farmer awardee who died three days to event
As Ghana marks the 35th edition of Farmers’ Day, The Ghana Report takes you down memory lane to 2018 when one of the winners died three days before the event.
The 46-year-old, Issah Nayawu who is from the Volta region had travelled to the Northern regional capital, Tamale.
This was the venue for the 2018 National Best Farmer Award ceremony scheduled for Friday December 7.
But Mr. Nayawu had been ill for sometime and died on Tuesday, December 4, 2018 in Tamale.
He was buried according to Islamic traditions and received the award posthumously.
In another Farmers’ Day story, the 2013 winner, Alhaji Awudu Karim appears to have solved his human resource challenge in maintaining 200 acres of farmlands.
The 58-year-old who comes from the Upper East Region has 19 children from four wives.
They assist him to cultivate maize, rice, groundnuts, sorghum, and mangoes on an over 200 acres of lands.
Alhaji Awudu Karim also engages in poultry and livestock farming with 410 guinea fowls, 220 chickens, 420 sheep, 360 goats, six pairs of bullocks as well as 740 other livestock.
He received a three-bedroom house, a pick-up vehicle and a tractor.
Farmers’ Day
Farmers Day was instituted in 1985 by the Ghana government after agricultural sector posted a 30 percent growth in 1984.
This was a significant improvement over 1982 and 1983 when the country suffered a severe drought. The first Farmers’ Day was celebrated in Osino, located in the Eastern Region of Ghana, where the drought was most severe.
On the first celebration, an award was given to the “best” farmer. The prize package included two machetes, a pair of Wellington boots and a preset radio.
Since that time, the prizes have grown more valuable and included bicycles, power tillers, tractors and pick-ups.
Starting in 2002, the winning farmer received a three-bedroom house and that has been the prize in years since.