An initiative to reclaim arable land destroyed by illegal gold miners in the Muorso, Kwabeng and Abomosu enclaves of the Atiwa West District in the Eastern Region has begun.
The reclamation in the enclaves has become necessary due to the destruction of the land by illegal gold miners, which has negatively impacted the cultivation of food crops such as maize and tubers like yam, cocoyam and cassava.
The initiative, which will also lead to the afforestation and recultivation of cocoa, is being spearheaded by the Chief of Akyem Muorso, Barima Dr Owusu Beyeeman.
The chief has already reclaimed a vast stretch of land on which he planted 10,000 tree species of economic value such as mahogany, odum, sapele and wawa.
Also included in the programme is the supply of cocoa, oil palm and coconut seedlings to interested farmers or landowners to be planted on their reclaimed lands.
Announcing the land reclamation drive at the district’s Farmers’ Day celebration at Akyem Muorso, Barimah Beyeeman said in all 20,000 seedlings of tree species were to be planted on the reclaimed land, out of which he had personally planted seedlings on 50 hectares.
Okyenhene’s blessing
According to Barima Beyeeman, after obtaining blessing from the Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, for the reclamation and tree planting exercise, he sought support from X’tra Gold, a licensed gold mining company in the area, which readily agreed to offer a helping hand.
The District Assembly, he indicated, also supported and instantly made available seedlings for 7,000 tree species to be planted on the reclaimed lands.
Barima Beyeeman said he decided to undertake the initiative because, in the past, the arable lands in the area produced large quantities of both food and cash crops, for which the enclave earned the accolade “food basket” of the region.
However, it was now turning into a desert.
“If I do not take up the initiative, in the next few years, we will witness abject poverty in the area because the land will not be suitable for the cultivation of any crop and the illegal gold miners will also leave after the mineral has been exhausted,” Nana Beyeeman stated.
The Muorsohene called on the government, assembly and colleague traditional rulers to help stamp out the illegal miners.
DCE
The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Atiwa West, Seth Asante, said the assembly was translating the government’s various flagship programmes, such as Planting for Food and Jobs, Planting for Export and Rural Development, Rearing for Food and Jobs, and One District, One Factory, into concrete actions for the benefit of the people in the district.
In view of that, the DCE said the assembly had supplied 210,850 oil palm, 34,000 coconut, 1,272 cocoa, and 14,029 economic tree seedlings to farmers in the area to be cultivated under the guidance of agriculture extension officers also provided by his outfit.
Earlier, the Atiwa West District Director of Agriculture, Esther Fenney, introduced the district’s overall best farmer, Frederick Dakwa Yeboah, who was presented with a motorbike and farm inputs, along with 12 others who excelled in the production of varieties of crops, fish and livestock.
They were given items such as refrigerators, pieces of cloth and farming inputs.
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