Medical Officer Wins Overall Best Farmer Award of Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal District
Dr Kojo Owusu-Koranteng , a Medical Officer of the Tarkwa Municipal Hospital and the CEO of KOWUS FARMS was adjudged the overall Best Farmer for the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal District in the Western Region.
Speaking to the media , Dr Kojo Owusu-Koranteng explained that his parents are Agricultural Officers who made backyard gardening, farming, fish farming, rearing of fowls and Beekeeping part of the life of their family and that became the foundation of his interest in farming.
According to Dr Kojo Owusu-Koranteng, he knows that food is an important human need but despite the agricultural potential of the nation, farming has remained a “cutlass and hoe business” which has denied the agricultural sector the needed investment to transform peasant agriculture from its low level productivity to medium to large scale farming.
He commended peasant farmers for working so hard to provide the food needs of Ghanaian people and called on government to increase the support to small holder farmers because that is the best route to transform agriculture from its peasant nature to become middle to large scale agribusiness.
He expressed the view that the agricultural sector of Ghana can only be transformed when the government target small holder farmers who have the commitment , passion and indigenous knowledge to become the agents of change in the transformation of agribusiness in Ghana.
He lamented that many agricultural programmes initiated by government have failed because the people who have made farming part of their passion and daily lives do not have access to resources to increase their investment in agribusiness.
“Ghana is well endowed naturally to make agriculture the foundation for national development through investment in agro processing, proper packaging of agricultural products for exports, training of the youth in agribusiness among others.
Dr Kojo Owusu-Koranteng who is a Medical Officer at the Tarkwa Municipal Hospital said he started KOWUS FARMS in 2019 at Samahu near Tarkwa as a mixed farm of three acres with the cultivation of Oil Palm , Cassava , Maize , Rice , Plantain , Oil
Palm and Cocoa.
The Crops section of the farm has increased from three acres to fifty acres in a period of about four years. According to Dr Kojo Owusu-Koranteng , he started the Livestock section with five pigs and later added sheep and goats to the livestock section of the farm . Today he has hundred pigs in addition to Sheep and Goats.
Sharing his thoughts on how government can modernize agriculture, Dr Kojo Owusu-Koranteng shared his thoughts that government must integrate technology with improvement in infrastructure and sustainable practices in the agribusiness. He advised government to promote strong farmers’ groups to create a strong voice for farmers to articulate their needs and concerns to government.
“Farmers in Ghana must be supported to have very strong Farmers’ Groups to be the voice of the country’s farmers”, he said.
Concerning his future plans , Dr Kojo Owusu-Koranteng spoke about his plans to introduce modern technologies such as green house farming in the production of year-round vegetables and the processing of fish and pork products.
He encouraged technocrats like him to go into agribusiness to help modernize agriculture in Ghana.
He plans to develop KOWUS FARMS into an innovation centre where farmers can meet to share ideas and experiences in the adoption of new farming technologies and to find solutions to common problems.
Asked about how he is able to combine his busy schedule as a Medical Officer with his passion as a farmer, he explained that he has put in place an effective control System and above all , he has an efficient team.
Above these measures is the benefit of collective leadership where the workers know and understand their roles. At KOWUS FARMS we work as a team.
I cannot rule out the extreme support , encouragement and direction from my family especially my parents Mr and Mrs Owusu-Koranteng and my sister Akua Owusu-Koranteng( ESQ) which pushed me on in difficult periods and my greatest thanks to them .
“A greater part of the success story of KOWUS FARMS can be attributed to them”, he said .
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