The Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekawi Municipal Assembly will distribute 150,000 hybrid oil palm seedlings to farmers and former illegal small-scale miners in the Municipality.
The move is to plant the seedlings in degraded mining sites as part of measures to restore forest cover.
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Alfred Amoah said the programme is expected to augment the government’s flagship programme “Planting for Export and Rural Development” and urged farmers to take advantage of the programme to grow more commercial trees.
The MCE said the project, funded by the Minerals Development Fund is targeted at supporting the government’s Alternative Development Livelihood Programme to offer alternative sources of income for people who were once engaged in illegal mining.
The Municipal Agriculture Director, Mr Augustine Amaning Kwarteng, said his outfit was expecting 150,000 seedlings for the project and that the distribution would be done in two phases to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.
The first phase he said would provide 100,000 seedlings, while the second phase would provide 50,000 seedlings adding that his outfit had so far distributed more the 40, 000 to cover the first phase.
The Director entreated the youth to take advantage of the opportunity and admonished the beneficiaries to nurture the seedlings well by fencing around them.
He reiterated that the youth should venture into agriculture because it was a lucrative business, adding that the project apart from creating jobs would also help combat climate change.
Mr Kwateng  commended the various Mining Companies in Ghana for supporting the project through their prompt contribution to the fund.
By Daniel Akwasi Nuako
