The Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) has awarded the 2021 National Best Farmer, Alhaji Mohammed Mashud, a ‘fat’ sum of GHS600,000 to support the expansion of his farming operations.
Speaking at the event, the Managing Director of ADB, Dr. John Kofi Mensah, commended the hard work of Alhaji Mashud as well as the good works of the Ministry of Food And Agriculture (MoFA), especially with its flagship program ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’.
Dr. Mensah said the ADB prides itself as the leading sponsor of MoFA and would continue to provide its undying support to propel the Ministry’s agenda forward.
“ADB remains a major partner for all the flagship programs of MoFA, especially the Planting for Food and Jobs. As we have always done since 2001, we will continue to provide our unflinching support to the growth of the agriculture sector. We aim at giving credit access to farmers at a very minimal interest rate, 5 percent. Our goal as an Agriculture Development Bank is to become the largest asset creation to farmers.”
Dr. Mensah
Huge Prospects available in the Agricultural Value Chain
Commending the National Best Farmer, the Agriculture Minister, Dr. Akoto Afriyie Akoto, said the Ministry has shown its full support to Ghanaian farmers through the government. Adding to this, he stressed that only a few commercial farmers have been able to take advantage of the support given by the government. He opined that there are huge prospects in the agricultural value chain and expressed happiness because the National Best Farmer seized the opportunity.
The Minister called on all Commercial Banks to support farmers and appealed to the ADB to beef up its funding allocations to the Ministry.
Remarks of National Best Farmer
Upon receiving the ‘fat’ cheque, the National Best Farmer, Alhaji Mashud, expressed his appreciation to the awarding institution, ADB, for the reward and to MoFA for its support through the numerous projects and programmes introduced to the KambangCooperative. He assured the dignitaries present that the cash prize awarded to him would be used for its intended purpose to boost food production in Northern Ghana.
“We won’t use the money to buy food or clothing’s; we will use it to expand our seed out-grower unit and broiler production,” he promised.
Alhaji Mohamed Mashud, the ‘2021 National Best Farmer’, is a trained teacher and the Kambang Cooperative’s head in the Northern Region with about 26,000 members. The event was held at the forecourt of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture’s (MoFA’s) head office, and was graced with numerous dignitaries from the Agric sector.
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