Farmers who have benefited from the AngloGold Ashanti Iduapriem Mine Teberebie vegetable project have lauded the mining giant for the programme.

According to the farmers, the project had helped to boost their income and improved their standard of living.

The Teberebie vegetable cooperative project forms part of the various initiatives by the Iduapriem Mine to respond to the increasing unemployment situation within its host communities.

The first phase of the project involved a total of 14 farmers who planted vegetables and fruits such as cabbage, watermelon, green pepper, lettuce, carrots, and cucumber over an eight-acre piece of land.

The next phase of the project is expected to cover 20 farmers who would cultivate vegetables over a twenty-acre land.

At a brief ceremony to present an amount of GH¢ 40,000.00 being proceeds realized from the sale of vegetables to the farmers, Mr Stephen Adjei, Senior Manager - Sustainability of Iduapriem Mine, congratulated the farmers for the hard work and unrelenting efforts in ensuring the success of the first phase of the project.

"I am extremely happy to see you succeed in this project, knowing the challenges that you faced in the beginning,” he said.

He further added that “I have no doubt that if you demonstrate the same zeal and commitment in the next phase, another remarkable success would be chalked.”

A beneficiary of the project, Mr Moses Hagor, expressed gratitude for the help and beseeched the mining company to extend the project to cover other areas of agriculture in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality.

“For me, this project has been a blessing as I have been able to build a house from the sales I made,” he revealed.

Nana Kojo Minnah II, Chief of Teberebie, thanked the company for the intervention and assured management of their unflinching aid and cooperation.

He advised the recipients to invest the money wisely, work harder than before and "trumpet their success stories particularly to the youth".

Mr Karol Senker, Municipal Agric Officer of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), pledged his outfit’s readiness to partner with Iduapriem Mine for such initiatives as they fall in line with the government’s Planting for Food and Jobs Programme.

He indicated that they would continue to provide technical assistance and support to ensure the successful implementation of the full project cycle.