A 58-year-old farmer, Charles Gyamfi from the Ahafo Region has been adjudged the 2019 National Best Farmer at a ceremony held in the Volta Regional capital, Ho.
The winner from the Tano North District has been farming for the past 25 years, producing cocoa, cassava, maize, garden eggs and citrus fruits among others.
The father of five also rears cattle, goats and poultry. He owns five boxes of bee hives, fish ponds and mans over a hundred employees.
Talk about value addition, Mr. Gyamfi produces fruit juices with produce from his farm and the cassava serves as a rich ingredient for gari which sells well in his community.
The national award comes with a prize of the cedi equivalent of $100,000, a significant improvement from the event’s first edition in 1985 where the winner took home cutlasses.
Mr. Gyamfi had his cheque presented to him by the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the event’s 35th edition.
In a citation, the overall best farmer was described as a philanthropist who has contributed to the betterment of his community folk.
He has given financial assistance to over a hundred people to enable them enroll onto the National Health Insurance Scheme and also donated hundred bags of cement toward the construction of a clinic in his community.
He is also a former national best cocoa farmer.
Mr. Gyamfi takes over from James Obeng Boateng who won the 34th edition in 2018 and hails from the Bono East Region.
It means the award has stayed in the Bono and Ahafo enclave for the third year running.
A farmer from the Ashanti Region, Nana Yaw Sarpong Serebour, was also adjudged the 1st Runner-Up while Abdulai Atiku Seidu who farms in the Upper West Region, took the 2nd Runner-Up position.
Philomena Tenge from the Eastern Region won the national best female farmer and Ayuba Jibrila from the Ashanti Region walked away as the national best youth farmer.
