Praaso (Ash), Dec. 4, GNA - Twenty-three farmers in the Asante Akim North Municipality were on Friday honoured at a farmers' durbar held at Praaso, near Dwease to mark this year's Farmers' Day celebration. Mr Elvis Oppong Kyekyeku, a native of Domeabra near Agogo emerged th= e overall best farmer.

He took home a corn mill, five cutlasses, two pairs of wellington boots, bicycle, knapsack sprayer and four bags of cement. Mr Kyekyeku has 25 hectares of cocoa, 10 hectares of oil palm, 15 hectares of plantain, four hectares of cassava, 25 sheep, 40 goats, 106 fowls and 20 pigs. Mr Thomas Osei-Bonsu, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), said agriculture was the mainstay of Ghana's economy hence government was committed to providing the necessary assistance to farmers to enable them= to improve on their productivity.

He noted that lack of access to farm lands, credit facilities and po= st harvest losses were some of the challenges that farmers were facing and added that Government had put measures in place to address them. The MCE entreated the youth to consider farming as a worthwhile enterprise, saying Government had rolled out various interventions, which=

had created an enabling environment for productive farming. Mr Albert Obeng Adu, the Municipal Director of Agriculture, charged farmers, who had benefitted from various credit facilities from his outfi= t, to pay back their loans for others to benefit.