Oil Palm Nursery calls for support

Farmers working at an oil palm nursery farm at Ahamasu in the Kadjebi District have appealed to the government to support the nursery project, which seeks to encourage farmers in the region to embark on the commercial cultivation of oil palm.

The farmers pointed out that since the nursery project was started by the 1998 Second Best National Farmer, Mr. Nicholas Fato, many farmers in the area had showed an interest in the cultivation of the crop, and efforts need to be made to sustain the nursery farm in the region.

The Farm Manager of the S. Fato Oil Palm Nursery Farm, Mr. Henry Kwaku Ofosuhene, who spoke to Volta File on the viability of the project, noted that apart from the employment it created for a number of the youth in the area, it served as the main support for farmers who need oil palm seedlings in large quantities.

Mr. Ofosuhene explained that for sometime now, the activities of the nursery farm was gradually dying, because of the lack of financial support for the project, saying if the necessary steps were not taken by the government to assist the initiator of the project, Mr. Fato, it would collapse, and would negatively affect agriculture activities in the region.

The Mr. Nicholas Fato explained that the Kadjebi District was noted for the production of cocoa in the past, but since most people no longer cultivate the crop, he saw the need to adopt an alternate means of engaging the farmers in the cultivation of a similar economic crop like the oil palm, which the nature of the soil of the area favours.

He continued that he then applied as an individual farmer to the Presidential Initiative on Oil Palm (PSI), and luckily as a former Best National Farmer, he was assisted to start the oil palm nursery project, and since then he serves as the only source of supply to farmers interested in oil palm cultivation on a commercial basis in the region.

Mr. Fato said he was satisfied so far with the achievement of his dream, as over 106 farming groups, made up of over 800 farmers had benefitted from the 100-acre nursery, noting that so far, all the farmers from Kadjebi, Nkwanta-South and North, Biakoye and Krachi-East Districts, who benefitted from the seedlings, were performing creditably.

He said the high demand for oil palm seedlings calls for financial assistance to continue with the project, adding that he now found it difficult to maintain the nursery farm, because its maintenance was expensive, adding that he was struggling currently to control the blast disease that attacks oil palm seedlings.

Mr. Fato also disclosed that the pumping machine that connected the “Wawa” stream for irrigation of the crops, was broken down, and he had to employ people to water the over two-thousand seedlings manually, which he said was very difficult to manage, and called on the government and non-governmental organisations to help repair the machine, as well as to sustain the project for more farmers to benefit.