Gold Fields Improves Food Security In Tarkwa Prisons

Abdel-Razak Yakubu presenting the seedlings to the prison officers

 

The Gold Fields Ghana Foundation has initiated a move geared towards improving food security at the Tarkwa Local Prisons in the Western Region.

According to the Foundation, the Tarkwa prison accommodates more than 340 inmates, with a daily feeding allocation of GH¢5 per inmate.

The Foundation has, therefore, helped to expand the Tarkwa Local Prisons’ oil palm plantation from 30 acres to 50 acres with a GH¢144,666 investment.

The project is aimed at strengthening food security and equipping inmates with practical agricultural skills for rehabilitation and reintegration into society.

The support, provided under the newly launched Prisons Agro-Support and Empowerment (PASE) Project, includes 1,400 Tenera oil palm seedlings, fertiliser, organic compost, knapsack sprayers, herbicides, cutlasses and Wellington boots to establish an additional 20-acre plantation.

The Executive Secretary of the Gold Fields Ghana Foundation, Abdel-Razak Yakubu, explained that the project forms part of the Foundation’s commitment to creating enduring value beyond mining by investing in sustainable livelihoods and human development.

He said rehabilitation should extend beyond prison walls by providing inmates with employable skills that would enable them to rebuild their lives after serving their sentences.

“We want people who leave prison to become productive citizens. If an inmate leaves here and becomes a successful agronomist because of the skills acquired through this project, then we would have contributed meaningfully to transforming lives,” he said.

Mr. Yakubu commended officers of the Ghana Prisons Service for their role in reforming inmates, adding that their work demands commitment, sacrifice and professionalism.

He disclosed that the Foundation is considering establishing an oil palm processing centre at the prison to add value to the harvest and improve the project’s long-term sustainability.

“The Foundation has invested more than $7.48 million in enterprise development programmes across its host communities, including the Community Oil Palm Project (COPP), Cocoa Farmers Support Programme (CoFaS) and Youth in Organic Horticulture Production (YouHoP),” he added.

Commander of the Tarkwa Local Prisons, Chief Supt Bright Gbogbo, described the partnership as a significant contribution to the Ghana Prisons Service’s ‘Think Prisons 360 Reform Agenda’, which prioritises agricultural mechanisation, business development and strategic partnerships.

He said the prison had already planted 1,300 of the 1,400 seedlings supplied, and expressed confidence that the expanded plantation would improve food production while providing inmates with practical farming skills and future employment opportunities.

 

From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi

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