A 55-year-old farmer, Solomon Kwadwo Kusi, has been adjudged the National Best Farmer for 2020 at a ceremony held in Techiman in the Bono East Region.
Mr. Kusi has engaged in farming since 2010, producing crop and livestock enterprises ranging from tubers, cereals, vegetables, plantation crops, cattle, grasscutters, pigs, rabbits, timber species et cetera.
The Jomoro District farmer, a secondary school certificate holder, also owns 82 boxes of beehives that have been colonized with bees and snails in addition to 10 fishponds stocked with tilapia and catfish.
His farm employs a total of 225 workers, comprising 105 full-time employees and 120 casual employees, all of whom exhibit substantial knowledge of crop husbandry.
He was awarded a sum total of Gh¢570,000 by the Agricultural Development Bank of Ghana (ADB), taking over from Ahafo Region’s Charles Gyamfi, who emerged victor at the 35th edition of the event in 2019.
The award-winning farmer is considered a role model in the farming community. Given his accomplishments, Mr. Kusi is seen as an epitome of work ethic and a source of motivation by the youth in Jomoro.
A member of the Ankasa Conservation Fish Farmer’s Association, the father of 9 has in the past won several prominent awards. They include the 2018 National Best Tree Crop Farmer and District Best Fish Farmer in 2015.
Considered a philanthropist, he has amongst other social duties constructed 3 mechanised boreholes, in collaboration with the Member of Parliament for Jomoro, Paul Essien, for the Fanti Newtown, Nyamebekyere, and Awiafutu Junction communities.
The 2020 National Best Farmer additionally sponsored the grading of a 5-kilometre feeder road from Mile 5 to Kusikrom and Tweako-Navrongo in 2014.
His farms are located at Kusikrom, Nanakrom, Nyamekwame, and Tikobo No. 1, as well as Tweako Navrongo communities of the Jomoro District in the Western Region.
Source: Myjoyonline
