GHANA – The Artisanal Palm Oil Millers and Out-grower Association Ghana, has launched a one million oil palm seedling projects that aims to promote sustainability in the industry.
Dubbed as “Promoting a Sustainable Oil Palm Industry”, the scheme also aims at increasing the contribution of the oil palm industry to the country’s economy in its ambitions to promote the diversification through agriculture.
Speaking during the launch, Alhaji Abdul Hanan-Wahab, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Buffer Stock company said that the project will also propel Ghana towards becoming a leading producer and market of palm oil globally.
Alhaji hailed the association’s initiatives in supporting the oil palm growers and processors in Ghana by ensuring production and distribution of quality palm oil nationwide for consumption and industrial use, reports GhanaWeb.
He also expressed the continued support of his outfit to ensuring that Ghana improves its production of oil palm for domestic use and more so for export.
The Executive Chairman of the Artisanal Palm Oil Millers and Out-growers Association, Mr. Paul Akumaning, explained that the scheme aimed at making the oil palm industry a sustainable venture and the products from the industry a leading commodity in
The association plans to assist the primary producers with oil palm seedlings and technical skills from production throughout the value chain through a franchise scheme.
The association has also partner the Solidaridad West Africa to facilitate the set-up of high tech artisanal processing centres within the southern region.
The processing
Mr. Akumaning welcomed the aim of the project and entreated the association’s commitment
According to a report by NEPcon, Ghana produces over 2.4 million tonnes of palm annually from approximately 350,000 hectares of palm oil trees.
Of this, smallholder farmers account for 88% of the country’s palm oil farm area while 12% is managed as large monoculture plantations usually integrated with a processing mill.
