By Erica Apeatua Addo, GNA
Mile 8 (W/R), Aug 20, GNA - Hundreds of farmers at Mile 8, a farming community in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality, have received 275,000 high yielding cocoa seedlings from the Assembly to improve upon cocoa production.
The presentation forms part of the Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) programme initiated by the government.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after the distribution of the seedlings, Mr Glibert Kenndy Asmah, Municipal Chief Executive, who led the exercise, said under the PERD programme the Assembly has raised one million cocoa seedlings.
The MCE said at Bonsa and Esuaso, 600,000 cocoa seedlings were nursed for the two communities out of which 345,000 were ready for distribution.
Mr Asmah advised the beneficiaries to follow all the agronomic practices to create an enabling environment for the seedlings to survive and also achieve the goal of the project.
He encouraged the youth to venture into cocoa farming to sustain the sector and serve as an alternative livelihood.
The MCE gave the assurance that the government was making frantic efforts to improve upon the agricultural sector, and urged Ghanaians to support him.
The Municipal Agric Director, Nana Benyin Acquah Thompson, said to ensure the beneficiaries adhere to the approved farming practices, agricultural extension agents would be paying regular visits to their farms.
“Even if the extension officers visit a farm and some of the seedlings are not doing well, we will take it up and report to the Cocobod manager and we will see how best to replace the bad one,” he explained.
He, therefore, appealed to the farmers not to dump the seedlings in their farms as it was offered to them freely, but instead put in maximum effort to encourage the government to roll out more of such programmes.
Most of the farmers who benefited expressed gratitude to the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo -Addo administration for his unceasing support to farmers across the country.
GNA
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