Ho West District introduces 'stool farms'

The Ho West District Assembly has introduced a “One Paramountcy, One Farm” policy to promote agriculture and grow the local economy.

Mr Ernest Apaw, the District Chief Executive (DCE), said the initiative would support the setting up of "stool farms", which would in turn get traditional rulers to set the pace, and challenge the youth in particular, to go into farming.

The DCE who was addressing the media as part of a quarterly “Meet the Press” series, said the Assembly under the initiative had distributed tree seedlings to the various paramountcies.

He said the Dzolo and Avatime paramountcies received 100 grafted citrus seedlings each, whiles the Abutia, Kpedze, and the Akoviefe paramountcies received high yielding varieties of coconut seedlings.

Mr Apaw said going forward, each stool would receive seedlings to cover five or more acres, and called on traditional leaders to take the initiative seriously.

He commended queen mothers in the District for their support for agriculture, saying the Ho West Queenmothers Association maintained a close working relationship with the Assembly, partnering it on social support activities.

Mr Apaw said the Assembly had also provided them with a fair share of farm inputs, supporting more women farmers in the District.

The press engagement, an initiative of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in collaboration with the Ministry of Information, mandates Local Assemblies to hold quarterly engagements with the media to enable the Assemblies account to the public, and is part of Governments efforts at promoting transparency, accountability, and public participation.

Mr Seth Rashid Asuo, District Director of Agriculture, said a total of 12,197 farmers in the District were benefiting from the Planting for Food and Jobs Programme, whiles 1,315 had signed up for the Planting for Export and Rural Development module.

The District has been adjudged the best performing district in the implementation of the Planting for Export and Rural Development initiative, and for that won a GHC1.5 million facility under the Ghana Social Safety Net Support Project.

The DCE told the media the Assembly would utilise the facility to raise two million tree seedlings for free distribution, and construct over 25 boreholes and 15 dugouts to irrigate farms.

He said the Assembly also planned on promoting other tree crops including nutmeg, and was engaging foreign experts to exploit fruit tree production.

The DCE also mentioned that with the facility, an eight kilometre road would be opened up, traversing Amedzofe, Kpedze, Saviefe, and Hornuta to provide access to over 2000 acres of farmlands.

Mr Apaw said 30 and 50 farmers would benefit from piggery and poultry projects respectively under the Rearing for Food and Jobs programme, as part of subsided inputs.

He lamented however that 30,000 excess coffee seedlings remained after distribution to farmers and had to be picked up by growers in Ziavi in the Ho Central Municipality, and appealed to farmers in Ho West to make good use of Government’s agricultural interventions.