The Akyem Abuakwa Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana has started the distribution of 40,000 oil palm seedlings it has nursed to individual church members who have lands to re-plant them.
It is the first of l00,000 oil palm seedlings to be supplied free of charge for the next three years to interested church members and congregations in the Presbytery.
A symbolic presentation exercise took place at Asuom near Kade in the Eastern Region on Thursday where some farmers received the seedlings to be re-planted on their farms.
Speaking at the ceremony, Rev Dr Seth Kissi, the Chairperson of the Akyem Abuakwa Presbytery said, in 2021 the Presbytery unveiled an economic empowerment project to help transform the economic lives of its members.
He said, under the project, the Presbytery would supply oil palm seedlings each year for three consecutive years to members free of charge.
He said the project was initiated because the congregations in the Presbytery are scattered in rural communities and that by doing so they will have better-living conditions as well as be able to contribute to the church and community development.
The Presbytery Chairperson noted that there are four nursery sites at Asuom, New Abirem, Apedwa and Begoro for the project.
He called on members of PCG living and working outside the Presbytery and all who believed in the economic empowerment of people in rural communities to help make the project a success. He announced that the presbytery so far has spent more Ghc 100,000 on the project.
Dr Lawrence Misa Aboagye, the Akyem Abuakwa Lay Representative on the General Assembly Council of the Church and an agriculturist, is the chairman of a three-member committee appointed to oversee the nursing and distribution of the seedlings. He said so far they have received over one thousand applications from farmers.
The Director for Development and Social Services at the General Assembly office of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Mrs Rebecca Teiko Sahah commended the Presbytery for the initiative and urged other Presbyteries to also come out with some other economic empowerment programmes to support their church members.
Mr William Antiri, a representative of the beneficiary farmers thanked the Presbytery for the project and said it would go a long way to help them improve their finances and therefore would be able to support the ministry in diverse ways.
The Presbytery has also launched a 100,000 endowment fund to cater for the welfare of Church agents including Ministers and Catechists.
Source: Mybrytnewsroom.com/Kwabena Nyarko Abronoma
