Mr. Obeng who was speaking at a durbar to mark the District’s celebration of the 33rd national Farmer’s Day said the Assembly was committed to the creation of general awareness on job opportunities in the agriculture and allied sectors.

He said the Assembly had planned to achieve that through the effective implementation of the various government poverty alleviation programmes and policies like the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFFJs) and the One-District, One-Factory (1D1F).

In that sense, Mr. Obeng indicated that the Assembly was in close contact with appropriate agencies to consider the District for the cultivation of selected cash crops, particularly cashew and oil palm under the District Chamber of Agriculture, Commerce and Technology (DCACT) initiative

That, the DCE hoped would provide employment avenues for the teeming unemployed youth in the District. Mr. Obeng stressed the need to support the farmers in the District by patronising their produce and also urged all the actors in the agriculture sector to ensure the production of quality output for the markets.

He announced that under the “Planting for Cash and Investment Initiative”, about 878 farmers had demonstrated their commitment in providing 5,559 acreage of farm land for the Cashew and Oil palm cultivation in the District.

The DCE expressed the hope that initiative coupled with the PFFJs and other poverty alleviation and socio-economic interventions would have a positive and significant impact on agriculture in the District.

Mr. Obeng indicated that the Assembly in collaboration with ActionAid Ghana and funding from the European Union had rolled out a project- “Sustainable Livelihoods and Transparent Local Authorities” (SLATLA) which among other objectives targeted the development of skills of the people, under groups and cooperatives in the District in economic activities.

He said the agriculture business training under the SLATLA project was offering training under the following areas - Vegetable farming, Mushroom production, Poultry feed formulation, Poultry Farming and Grass cutter production.

The DCE assured that the government would continue to provide the enabling environment for farmers in the District and the country generally to operate to reap the expected returns. Mr. Obeng however, emphasised the need for support of all stakeholders in the District’s quest to realise the ideals in the agriculture sector since all could not be achieved solely by the Assembly and the government.