By Florence Afriyie Mensah, GNA
Fumesua (Ash), Jan. 9, GNA – Mr Nicholas
Issaka Gbana, the Programme Manager of Oil Palm, Solidaridad West Africa, said
Ghana needs financing policy for the oil palm industry to reap its full
potentials to bolster economic growth and transformation.
Ghana is seen as a country with all it takes
to grow the oil palm plantation sector and the ability to reduce vegetable oil
importation, which could reposition it to become a leading exporter of oil palm
like Malaysia and Indonesia.
He, therefore, commended Government’s policy
initiatives such as the Planting for Export and Rural Development, which covers
cash crops like oil palm, saying: “It is a step in the right direction.”
Mr Gbana was speaking at the opening of a
five-day training workshop for facilitators in technical up-skilling for
Agricultural Technical and Vocational Education Training (ATVET) in oil palm
value chain at Fumesua in the Ejisu Municipality of the Ashanti Region.
Participants came from the University
College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Bunso in the Eastern Region,
Asuansi Technical Institute, Kumasi Institute for Tropical Agriculture, the
Father Dogli Memorial Vocational Institute and Kpando Technical Institute.
Tutors from these institutions would be
taken through concepts on oil palm agronomy, agribusiness and sustainability
and practical farmer field school sessions at the Juaben Oil Palm Plantation.
The training formed part of activities under
phase two of the Sustainable West Africa Oil Palm Programme to support
institutions that would provide technical training to industry players.
Solidaridad, in partnership with the Ghana
Skills Development Initiative (GSDI), with funding from the Swiss State
Secretariat for Economic Affairs, would hold the training for five institutions
accredited by COTVET to run the ATVET programme in oil palm.
Mr Gbana said the two-year programme,
spanning 2019 to 2021, is being implemented in Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and
Cote d’Ivoire.
About 19,000 beneficiaries in Ghana
including 16,000 farmers, 2,000 women processors and 1,000 youth are expected
to be reached by the end of the programme.
GNA
