Tuesday, March 9, 2010

AKATE FARMS CELEBRATES 20TH ANNIVERSARY (GRAPHIC NSEMPA, PAGE 14, JAN 25, 2010)

By Kwame Asare Boadu, Kumasi

AKATE Farms has organised a symposium in Kumasi to mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the farms.
Political leaders, members of the academia, farmers and workers in the poultry industry attended the function.
Twenty years ago, Alhaji Abdul Salam Akate founded the farms, which had grown into one of the biggest in the country.
As a result of his hard work, Alhaji Akate was adjudged the national best farmer in 2007.
Speaking at the symposium, a Lecturer at the Faculty of Agriculture, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Prof. Stephen Osei, stressed the need for farmers to adopt agricultural practices that would boost production and increase their earnings.
He said farming had become a business and that farmers could not afford to live in the past where farming was mainly one a subsistence basis.
Prof. Osei said agriculture needed to be given all the support to enable it contribute to national growth.
According to him, if agriculture production was boosted, raw materials will be available to feed the industries.
The lecturer, who spoke on the topic, "Agricultural Development in Ghana: The Way Forward", expressed regret that the nation continued to rely on food imports when all potentials were there for the nation to fed itself.
He, therefore, urged the government to adopt effective measures that would change the situation for the betterment of the nation.
Prof. Osei noted that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) could be achieved by 2015, if efforts are made to raise food production and poverty reduced.
He asked the youth to develop interest in farming because there was a lot of benefits in the sector.
The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Kofi Opoku Manu, said the government was positioning itself to transform the agricultural sector.
He commended Alhaji Akate for his hardwork and commitment to his business, which had served as an employment avenue for a number of people and contributed to the overall national development.
Alhaji Akate on his part attributed his achievement to determination, self-discipline and commitment to get to the top.
In 2009, Akate farms won the Best Agro Company Award of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG).

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