Ghana spends GH¢1.4m on Forest Plantation Development Project creating 5,720 jobs
The Forest Plantation Development Project has employed 5,720 youth in Brong Ahafo Region, since it was launched at Abofour in the Ashanti Region in 2009 by the government.
The employees have cultivated a total of 4,259 hectares of land whilst GH¢1,420,673.02 has been spent on the project since its inception in the region.
Mr Kwadwo Nyamekye-Marfo, Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, made this known in Sunyani at the Regional Meet the Press programme, aimed at ensuring that the citizenry are better informed about government policies and programmes to boost their confidence in the “Better Ghana Agenda”.
The programme included a photo exhibition mounted by the municipal and district assemblies to showcase the developmental projects they had undertaken since the government came to power in January 2009.
The project “has yielded positive results in the region”, he said, adding that the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) through its 15 modules had also employed 16,253 people in the region.
Mr Nyamekye-Marfo said in the government’s quest to provide skills and employment to the teeming unemployed youth, the Local Enterprises and Skill Development Programme (LESDEP) under the NYEP had been initiated.
The LESDEP sought to ensure thousands of unemployed youth were taken through vocational and technical skills training and equipped to start their own businesses
The Regional Minister stated that the disciplines covered by the programme included carpentry, masonry, hairdressing, soap-making, bread baking, wood carving, batik tie and dye, auto mechanic and auto electrical.
He announced that the implementation of the Agricultural Mechanisation Programme by the National Service Scheme has also taken off in Sunyani.
This year a total of 200 acres of yellow maize have been cultivated at Branam in the Wenchi Municipality with the sole purpose of providing raw materials for local industries engaged in the production of poultry feed, he said.
Source: GNA