MORE THAN 1,000 FARMERS BENEFIT FROM ALTERNATIVE LIVELIHOOD PROGRAMME (BACK PAGE)

The Minerals Commission has implemented a GH¢2.5 million Alternative Livelihood Programme in five communities in the Prestea-Huni Valley District in the Western Region with support from the HIPC Fund.
The project, known as the Wassa West Oil Palm Project, which started in March, last year, has benefited 1,063 farmers in Nsuta-Mbease, Awodua, Himan, Bogoso and Huni-Valley.
The farmers, who were provided with 352,649 seedlings, have presently cultivated a total of 5,878 acres.
At the initial stage of the project, the farmers were supported with funds to clear the land and were given additional funds to enable them to maintain the farms until the first crop was harvested and sold in the next four years.
The farmers continued to receive support until each cultivated 10 acres, which they would be encouraged to expand.
The Chief Executive of the Mineral Commission, Mr Ben Aryee, said at the inaugural ceremony of the project that the programme was designed to assist people living in mining communities with access to arable land.
He said the farmers benefited from the supply of improved quality planting materials, including oil palm seedlings, seed corn and plantain suckers.
"There is also credit support for land preparation, to enable each participating farm family to clear and prepare land for the seedlings and inter crops," he said.
The chief executive said mining had a lifespan and while it was ongoing, there was the need to focus on other alternative livelihood programmes for those in the communities.
He explained that it would take three to five years to harvest the palm fruits but the farmers had also been taught how to inter-crop to ensure maximum use of the land.
Mr Aryee said the project also took care of basic tools and equipment and other agro inputs like fertiliser, insecticide and fungicide, as well as technical assistance in the areas of training and farm record keeping.
He assured the farmers of the readiness of Unilever Ghana to purchase all the palm fruits to be cultivated at the farm gate.
Aside the ready market from Unilever, he said, the government would also establish a processing plant in the area.
In a speech read on her behalf, the Minister of Land, Forestry and Mines, Mrs Esther Obeng Dapaah, said the government had over the years adopted policies aimed at ensuring that the country's mineral endowments were managed on a sustainable economic, social and environmental basis.