600,000 cashew seedlings to be distributed to farmers in Wa West District

The project falls under the president's Planting for Export and Rural Development initiative

The Wa West District Assembly under the leadership of Edward Sabo Laabiir is set to distribute as many as 600, 000 cashew seedlings to farmers in the area.

This is in continuation of President Nana Akufo Addo’s futuristic financial security program dubbed Planting for Export and Rural Development ( PERD).

Addressing press men at the Ga nursery on Friday, the DCE disclosed that some 2,940 farmers have been registered in the District through the District Agric Directorate to receive the seedlings for transplanting.

He further disclosed that the District has so far secured parcels of land, cleared them and will be establishing cashew plantations on those lands across the District.
Hon. Edward Sabo Laabiir explained that the PERD component of the Planting for food and job PFJ is intended to provide reliable financial booster to farmers as they grow older, and to help them prepare financially towards the tertiary education of their wards who would have gone through the Free SHS system.

According to the DCE, the nursery together with the plantations currently employs as many as 153 people who received monthly income.

He breaks the figure down into 30 for men and 123 women respectively.

This means that the PERD program has already employed citizens in District whilst thousands of others will be given seedlings for free, he indicated.

The Wa West District under honorable Sabo has shown focus commitment to the PERD program since it was introduced by the President, and has beaten counterpart Assemblies in the provision of these seedlings to farmers.

80,000 seedlings were distributed in 2018, increased to 500,000 in 2019 and further increased to 600,000 this year. But for the COVD19 pandemic, the target for 2020 was 1,000,000 seedlings.

The District Director of Agriculture and the NPP parliamentary candidate for this year’s elections who both spoke to the media and some farmers present used the opportunity to advise beneficiary farmers to take cashew farming serious, explaining that it’s a game changer.