Anglogold Ashanti, Solidaridad Train Agric Extension Officers On CROPP

AngloGold Ashanti Ghana, in partnership with Solidaridad West Africa has organized a 3-day training for MOFA Extension Officers within five MMDAs in Adansi on Best Oil palm Management Practices and the use of digital tools for monitoring and reporting purposes as part of preparation towards the implementation of the Climate Resilient Oli Palm Project.

The beneficiary districts were the Obuasi Municipal, Obuasi East,Adansi Asokwa and the Adansi North and South Districts.

Addressing Newsmen on the sidelines of the training program the Economic Development Superintendent of Anglogold Ashanti Ghana, Obuasi Mine, Daniel Arthur-Bentum said the training forms part of AGA’s Agricultural Development programme called Climate Resilient Oil Palm Project (CROPP) which aims to contribute to the diversification of the local economy and afforestation.

The CROP Project launched in 2021 in collaboration with Solidaridad West Africa, is to contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation through local economic development.

It is also expected to enhance the livelihoods of beneficiaries in four Municipal and District Assemblies (Obuasi Municipal, Obuasi East District, Amansie Central and Adansi South Districts). The project is targeting 1000 hectares of land in its first phase (5years) to plant Oil palm and agro forestry trees.
Mr. Arthur-Bentum said the training will help the Extension officers to be able to support farmers adopt the best Management practices and also look at how best they can monitor them to achieve climate capture target.

” Our analysis have shown that farmers do not adopt the best Manager practices hence are not able to optimise what they need to be able to get good yields. We are optimistic that with the knowledge acquired from this training program, our Extension Officers will be able to train the farmers on the field , adopt their farms and make them better off”.

Again, Daniel Arthur-Bentum emphasized the role of monitoring in achieving the goals of the CROPP. He said, to know the yields of farmers and be able to know how their works contribute to Climate Resilient activities or Carbon capture, it should be measured. This he said feeds into the reason why the Extension officers were taken through training Digital reporting and monitoring.

CROPP TO RECLAIM LANDS FOR OIL PALM PLANTATION
The Economic Development Superintendent revealed that lands in the Adansi enclave are climate vulnerable due to the activities of illegal miners hence Anglogold Ashanti plans to leverage on the Climate Resilient Oil Palm Project to reclaim those lands and use them for economic purposes by Planting Oil palm.

Senior Program Officer of Solidaridad West Africa Paa Kwesi Forson said the rationale behind the training program was to build the capacity of the Extension officers to relate ,interact and better inform the Oli Palm farmers in their respective districts. He added that the training will also empower beneficiaries to provide practical solutions to the farmers.

Mr. Forson cited lack of resources and capacity training as key challenges facing Agric officers in Ghana. He said Solidaridad is working with Anglogold Ashanti to provide farmers with the resources and requisite training to help their work.

Prudence Owusu Mensah and Raphael Atta Preprah, both Agric officers from the Obuasi East and Obuasi Municipal Assemblies respectively, lauded AGA and Solidaridad for the training opportunity.

They said the training has helped them to acquire knowledge on Best Managerial practices in Oli Palm production which also ties into the government’s Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) program.