Charity Akortia, aged 57 and a resident of Agona West Municipality in the Central Region, emerged as the recipient of the prestigious National Best Farmer Award for the year 2023.
The announcement took place during the Farmers’ Day celebration held at the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) in Tarkwa, Western Region.
She took home a cash prize of GHC1 million sponsored by the Agriculture Development Bank.
Akortia currently employs about 277 workers and she has been farming for over 30 years. She is married with four children and owns a number of farms in the Central Region.
Runners up
Theophilus Ezenrane Ackah from the Western Region was adjudged the first runner-up. He took home a high horsepower tractor head, trailer, a set of implements, and a boom sprayer.
His prize was sponsored by the Ghana Exim Bank.
The second runner-up award was taken by Augustine Asubonteng from the Ashanti Region. His prize was an MF tractor head, trailer, and set of implements. This was sponsored by Stanbic Bank.
Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia who graced the occasion handed over the prizes to the awardees of the day.
He congratulated them for their sacrifices in feeding the nation, adding that the celebration of Farmers Day must remind citizens of the goal of addressing food security. He said the new dynamics call for new strategies to realise national goals of food security.
“As we honour our heroic farmers and co-actors in the agricultural value chain, we must remember that the new dynamics necessitate new solutions to achieve our food security, resilience, job creation, poverty reduction, and prosperity goals.”
For the first time, this year’s occasion climaxed with a plush dinner for the celebrants and awardees on the theme ‘Delivering smart solutions for sustainable food security and resilience’.
