GHANA – The Bekwai Municipal Directorate of Food and Agriculture has initiated plans to enhance the capabilities of local farmers and provide them with high-yielding oil palm seedlings to increase and expand oil palm cultivation in the municipality.

The initiative aims at establishing the municipality as the primary hub for bulk palm oil production in the Ashanti region.

To achieve this, the Directorate, in collaboration with the Municipal Assembly, has distributed over 300,000 high-yielding and pest-resistant oil palm seedlings to interested farmers in the area.

Notably, around 45 percent of these seedlings were given to women farmers to cultivate.

According to Mr. Emmanuel Mensah, the Municipal Director of Agriculture, women, known throughout the industry as “oil palm mamas” or “market queens,” play a competitive role in Ghana’s informal oil palm sector, particularly in the smallholder sector.

The sector produces 76% of the nation’s crude palm oil (CPO) which with the necessary support in the form of training and planting materials, production could be optimized for cooking oil and other products.

This initiative is also part of a broader program by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) aimed at empowering women farmers with modern skills and best agronomic practices.

The objective is to improve crop yields and overall farm production, thereby enhancing their livelihoods and economic well-being.

Mr. Mensah praised the women who have made efforts to advance palm oil production by branding their products to meet higher market standards.

He encouraged them to continue adhering to best production practices and suggested that the products could even be exported to other countries.

In addition to promoting oil palm production, the Directorate has been actively involved in training women in modern rice cultivation methods. This has led to an increase in rice production in the area, providing new opportunities for income generation and enhancing local food security.

Furthermore, the Directorate is supporting women farmers in goat rearing, providing them with alternative livelihoods once the major crop seasons are over. Approximately 20 women have participated in the goat rearing program.

Mr. Mensah encouraged farmers, particularly women, to be self-confident and take on new and challenging roles in farming, emphasizing the importance of their contributions to food production in the municipality.

Oil palm is the second most important industry for rural job creation in Ghana after cocoa, employing about 2 million people, according to a national report.

The formal processing sector is responsible for domestic commercial production – what is sold in grocery stores – while the informal sector produces the red, unrefined palm oil that is sold in local markets.

Over the past few decades, the formal sector has played a particularly important role in industry expansion by providing planting materials, fertilizers, harvesting tools, and safety equipment to oil palm farmers in exchange for exclusive contracts.

Yet, despite the high rate of production and consumption these activities encouraged, the nation is still unable to meet its demand for palm oil.