The Asante-Akim Central Municipal Assembly, has distributed 105,000 oil palm seedlings to 450 farmers in the Municipality as part of efforts to promote the crop under the Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD).

The initiative, a collaboration between the Assembly and the Seed Development Fund (SDF), seeks to encourage farmers in the Municipality to cultivate oil palm on large scale to serve as raw material for the establishment of a processing plant.

Mrs. Susan Akomeah, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), who handed over the seedlings to the Department of Agriculture for onward distribution to the farmers at a brief ceremony, charged the beneficiaries to ensure the seedlings were planted.

She said farmers had a key role to play in the implementation of the One District One Factory (1D 1F) and PERD which, she noted, would largely depend on the produce of farmers.

She charged farmers to embrace the two programmes as key beneficiaries, adding that, government was committed to making agriculture a lucrative business to attract the youth.

The MCE entreated the beneficiaries to pay equal attention to their oil palm plantations just as they did to cocoa as it was also a cash crop with a huge potential to transform their lives.

She said oil palm was an exportable commodity, which could fetch them foreign exchange and reminded them of the huge benefits they could reap with the establishment of the processing plant under the 1D 1F.

The MCE urged them to adopt modern methods of farming, stressing the need for them to work closely with the extension officers at the department of agriculture.

The Municipality, she noted, used to be the hub of oil palm production many decades ago and pledged the Assembly’s commitment to restore that feat to boost the local economy.

Mr. Ernest Kusi, the Municipal Director of Agriculture said the seedlings were of high quality and urged the farmers to adhere to the advice of the extension officers to ensure high yields.

He said his men would move to the farms of all the beneficiaries to ensure the seedlings were planted, adding, that the seedlings would cover a total of 1,605 acres of land.