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About 137 farmers in the Tempane District of the Upper East Region have started cultivating cashew plantations under the Planting for Food and Jobs and Planting for Export and Rural Development initiative.
The District Department of Agriculture nursed about 5,000 cashew seedlings and supplied to farmers to encourage them undertake cashew cultivation as a cash crop.
Mr Paul Abugri Azumah, the Tempane District Chief Executive, speaking with the Ghana News Agency at Tempane, described cultivation of cashew as a lucrative farming business and urged farmers to take opportunities created under the government’s agricultural reform initiatives to improve their living conditions.
He said the Tempane District has the right type of soil for cashew and that the Assembly in collaboration with its development partners was planning to involve more farmers in the cultivation.
Mr Azumah said even though the survival rate of the crop was not so high due to some environmental challenges like bush fires, long period of the dry season and grazing by animals, conscious effort was being made by the Department of Agriculture to address the challenges.
Mr Jamal-Deen Ibrahim, the District Director of Agriculture, lauded the initiative but expressed worry about the low potential growth rate of the crop and said plans were far advanced to create a good survival environment for it.
He said aside the cashew plantation, over 1,000 farmers in the District had undertaken cotton cultivation and were already benefiting from its proceeds.
“The cotton crop has good potential in the District as there is land available for its cultivation, ready market for the farmers and Farmer Based Organizations coming in to support farmers to cultivate large hectares of it,” he said.
He called on farmers to actively participate in cultivating the crop which could generate income to improve their economic status.
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