The Yendi Municipality on Friday honoured seventeen selected farmers who had contributed to the development of agriculture in the Yendi Municipality of the Northern Region.

Asutana Micheal Baba of Kuga was adjudged the best farmer for the District and he was presented with cutlasses, two jute sacks, radio recorder, a bottle of atrazine, wellington boots and a motor bike

Other award winners were; Nafisa Hardi of Bunbon, the best woman farmer; Mama Sibidow of Kuni, the best Agro-Forestry Farmer; Lefei Jaldido of Adibo, the best yam farmer; Mr Nson Aboleh Evans of Yendi, the best worker farmer; Fatimah Mohammed of Yendi, the best shea nut picker.

Mr Issah Zakaria, Yendi Municipal Chief Executive, commended farmers in the area for helping to meet the country’s food needs and for contributing towards the development of the economy.

He said government was committed to building a strong and viable agriculture sector and that through the Youth in Agriculture Block farm Programme, government made available inputs at affordable rates to the youth and other small scale farmers.

Mr Zakaria said with the fertilizer subsidy, a total of 37, 854 bags of assorted fertilizer were received and distributed to farmers during the 2012 farming season.

He said the country was left with some few days to the Presidential and Parliamentary elections and urged all to ensure that the peace in the area remains.

The Yendi Municipal Director of Agriculture, Ambrose Buokanso Ansaayiri, said Farmer Based Organizations (FBOS) are the core component of Agriculture Extension delivery system in the nation and urged all interested in farming to join such organisations.

The Best Farmer, Asutana Michel Baba, appealed to the fertilizer distribution agents to sell the fertilizer at approved rates adding that currently prices of the commodity was very high.