The Obuasi Municipal Assembly led by the Municipal Chief Executive, Elijah Adansi-Bonah has distributed 1000 coconut seedlings to 19 farmers in the Municipality to help increase coconut production.

This Assembly had already distributed 40,000 oil palm and citrus seedlings to farmers in the municipality.

The seedlings were in line with the government’s Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) initiative aimed at promoting rural economic growth to improve household incomes of rural farmers through the provision of certified improved seedlings, extension services, business support, and regulatory mechanisms.

The PERD initiative is also aimed at creating a sustainable raw material base for industries.

The Municipal Chief Executive who handed over the seedlings to the beneficiary farmers said the Assembly recognises the importance of the PERD program, hence it has committed resources to it to make sure farmers in Obuasi benefit from the program.

“We know the importance of this program, so we made sure we resourced the Agric Department to get the coconut, grow and distribute the seedlings. We also made sure farmer groups were formed and sensitized on the modalities covering the programme”.

The MCE used the opportunity to encourage residents, especially the youth who are interested in venturing into coconut production, to liaise with the Agric Department.

He also mentioned that Obuasi though is widely known for its rich gold resource, has huge agricultural prospects which have resulted in farmers from Obuasi winning national laurels in Agriculture.

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Mr. Elijah Adansi-Bonah also mentioned that a Citrus processing factory under the Enable Youth Program of the One District One Factory is completed.

He said the contractors of the project will soon hand over the facility for work to begin.

He again mentioned that LEAPAP, an Obuasi-based company, has since been supported to start an oil palm processing factory.

“I encourage investors to take advantage of the abundance of raw materials here to establish factories in Obuasi “.

Mr. Raphael Atta Peprah, the Municipal Director of Food and Agriculture, said this is only the first batch of beneficiaries as more farmers have been lined up to receive the free coconut seedlings, which were funded by the Assembly at a cost of GH? 15,000.00.

He encouraged the beneficiaries to take good care of the seedlings and ensure that their respective plantations are well established in order that the good intentions behind the program are realised.

He further advised the farmers to report any incidence of pests and diseases to the Department of Agriculture for effect control.

Mr. Mohammed Appiah, a beneficiary, thanked the Assembly for the effort to assist farmers and advised his colleagues to take advantage of the program to improve their livelihoods.