The Farm Manager of Volta Red Farms Limited, Mr Seidu Ibrahim, has called on the government to make deliberate efforts to attract the youth into tree crop cultivation, particularly oil palm.
Mr Ibrahim said tree crop cultivation was a lucrative venture that would not only create wealth for young people but also help reduce youth unemployment in the country.
He made the call in an interview with The Ghanaian Times on the 2,000-hectare oil-palm farm at Fankyeneko, near Brewoanise, in the Nkwanta South Municipality of the Oti Region.
Mr Ibrahim said the management of Volta Red Farms provides 26,000 seedlings to outgrowers free of charge for planting during the rainy season, in addition to offering technical advice.
He noted that Volta Red Farms had 3,000 hectares of land, of which 2,000 hectares have already been cultivated, serving as motivation for farmers in the Oti Region to venture into oil-palm cultivation.
He further explained that the company currently supports about 600 outgrowers across eight of the nine Municipal and District Assemblies (MDAs) in the Oti Region.
According to Mr Ibrahim, Volta Red Farms Limited operates its processing factory at Ahamanso Junction in the Kadjebi District, approximately 25 kilometres from the farm, due to the earlier lack of electricity at the farm site.
He said electricity had since been extended to the farm area, and plans were underway to relocate the factory from Ahamanso Junction to the farm.
This move, he explained, would boost production and increase employment from 500 to 600 workers.
The Managing Director of Volta Red Farms Limited, Mr Nicholas Fato, said it was important for the government to invest in farmers, particularly the youth, to engage in oil-palm cultivation, which he described as having the potential to transform the economic fortunes of the country.
Mr Fato stressed the need for the government to support outgrowers, noting that oil-palm cultivation could effectively support the government’s 24-hour economy flagship programme to promote economic growth.
He observed that many farmers in the Oti Region currently cultivate between three and eight acres of oil palm, a situation he said needed to be improved through expansion.
Mr Fato explained that Volta Red Farms initially provided oil-palm seedlings free of charge to interested farmers.
However, he noted that the approach was later reviewed after some farmers collected the seedlings but failed to plant them.
FROM SAMUEL AGBEWODE, FANKYENEKO
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