Sunflower cultivation to generate youth employment

Gomoa Adzentem(C/R), Aug. 15, GNA- The Chief of Gomoa Adzentem, has released 500 hectares of land to facilitate sunflower cultivation in the community, to provide jobs for the youth and discourage them from migrating to the urban centres in search of non-existing jobs. The intervention of Nana Obrempong Asare Andoh V, had led to the cultivation of the crop on 40 hectares of land.

The product would feed the sunflower oil processing plant and bio-diesel processor factory established by the Tropical Agricultural Marketing and Consultancy Services ((TRAGRIMACS) in Tema in the Greater Accra Region.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TRAGRIMACS, Mr Issah Sulemana made this know at Gomoa Adzentem, when he led sunflower farmers and bee-keepers from the Brong Ahafo, Greater Accra, Central and Volta regions to visit the farm on Friday.

Officials of Heifer International Ghana, the Netherlands Development Organisation and the Global Environmental Facility/ Small Grant Product of the United Nations Development Project, who are funding the project, accompanied the farmers.

Mr Sulemana said TRAGRIMACS would install more than 40 beehives on the farm to take advantage of the abundant bees that were pollinating the sunflower plant to produce honey as a by- product for the project. He said honey was potential product for export.

Mr Sulemana said research had made it possible for the sunflower plant to mature in three months.

He said TRAGRIMACS had established a total of 400 hectares of sunflower farms nationwide to feed the factory. The CEO noted that the by-product, which is a residual cake is good for poultry feed, while the oil from the crop is the healthiest edible oil with all the 20 Amino Acids, suitable for the body. Mr. Sulemana said due to the soaring crude oil price on the world market, there was the need for Ghana to find alternative sources of energy.

He said Ghana should encourage the financial institutions to assist farmers to go into sunflower production on large scale. He said the purpose for the establishment of the project was to produce bio-diesel from a local crop to mitigate climate change. Mr Gedfred Naarh of the Netherlands Development Organisation showed the farmers how the installed beehives operates. Nana Andoh promised to release more land to support the project.