Agric Director urges coconut farmers to build fire belts, as harmattan sets-in  

Gifty Fremah Appiah, the Noranza South Municipal Director of Agriculture has advised beneficiary farmers of the government coconut distribution initiatives to create fire belts around and to protect the economic trees, as the dry season sets-in.

President John Mahama initiated the free coconut seedlings distribution to boost agri-business and export, under the “Presidential Initiatives in Agriculture and Agribusiness (PIAA)” aimed at boosting national production of coconut.

The Ministry of Agriculture in partnership with the Coconut Federation of Ghana (CocoFeG) is implementing the PIAA being funded by the Ghana Exim Bank.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Nkoranza in the Bono East Region, Appiah advised the farmers to be wary about the way and manner they handled naked fires to avoid fire outbreaks that could destroy the coconut farms.

She emphasised that coconut had huge economic prospects with readily available local and international market opportunities, urging the farmers to maintain and protect their farms, and asked them to practice mulching as well as composting.

Appiah commended the President Mahama for the implementation of the PIAA saying that it had whipped the interest of many farmers in the municipality, engaging in coconut production.

She said coconut production had expanded job opportunities in the area with about 60 percent of the beneficiaries below 40 years.

In another interview, Joseph Adu-Parko, an Agriculture Extension Agent in the Municipality, urged the farmers to maintain their coconut farms by weeding around them frequently.

He said if the farmers left their farms bushy, it could potentially lead to fire outbreaks and destroy the coconut seedlings, urging them to always visit the farms and nurture the seedlings for their own good.