The Techiman South Municipal Assembly has distributed 111,190 cashew seedlings to farmers within three years under the government’s Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) programme to boost cashew farming.
Mr. Benjamin Yaw Gyarko, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), at a ceremony in Techiman in the Bono East Region to present seedlings to this year’s beneficiary cashew farmers, said “it is initiated to improve the socio-economic status of the farmers and their families.”
Moreover, it aims to increase the crop’s production capacity to increase its export and benefit the cashew industry’s value chain.
Mr. Gyarko explained that 2,103 farmers received 29,240 seedlings in 2019 for an estimated 7,381 hectares, but 589 farmers had 56,950 seedlings for cultivation on 1,423 hectares of farmland in 2020, while 25,000 seedlings were distributed to 546 farmers to plant 625 hectares of farmland this year.
He assured farmers of ready markets for their produce as efforts were being made by stakeholders such as the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) to implement the region’s agro-industrialization drive fast to attract more investors.
Mr. Gyarko announced that the Municipality had taken delivery of 22,500 bags of fertilizer for distribution to farmers under the subsidized price.
Mr. James Adu, the Techiman Municipal Director of Agriculture, said the cashew seedlings are the polyclonal type that would mature within three years and produce for 35 or more years. He, however, said the farmers must endeavor to give the seedlings the necessary care to grow well and mature on time.
Mr. Adu said though some of the youths were engaged in cashew farming, this was time for those unemployed to seize the opportunity to join the cashew farming business because the seedlings were being distributed freely with fertilizer at a subsidized price from the government.
“It is an avenue to make economic gains for a better living condition,” he added.
Voice of beneficiary farmers
Madam Hannah Boakyewaa, a 35-year-old cashew farmer at Tanoso near Techiman, described the initiative as “a golden opportunity” offered to them by the government, saying, “now I have the hope of providing a quality livelihood for my family.”
Mr. Kwadwo Kyeremeh, aged 54, and Mr. Anthony Anokye, 60 years, commended the government “for putting money in their pockets” through the cashew model under PERD, indicating that it is in the right direction to strengthen them economically.
PERD to promote rural economic growth
The Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) Programme is a decentralized National Tree Crop Programme to promote rural economic growth and improve the rural farmer household incomes by providing certified improved seedlings, extension services, business support, and regulatory mechanisms.
The programme has targeted six crops aside from cocoa. The crops are coconut, rubber, cashew, oil palm, coffee, and shea. The Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) is set to generate over 12 billion dollars in export.
According to the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Afriyie Akoto, in a recent interview, the six selected crops have the potential to outstrip cocoa and diversify the country’s economy from the over-reliance on only one crop as the major export commodity.
“The Ghana Beyond Aid vision can only be achieved if we are able to increase our agricultural export capacity; this we hope to do through the PERD programme. The six crops combined can each fetch us $2 billion in terms of exporting the raw materials alone, and this does not include value addition.”
Dr. Afriyie Akoto
