In Ghana, Western Region has been identified as the lead producer of coconut. This is so because coconut was the main tree crop of farmers in the coastal districts of the Region in previous years. The advent of Cape Saint Paul Wilt disease (CSPWD) in the 1960’s which till date has destroyed over 40,000 hectares of coconut farms contributed to the decline in production across the Region. The government of Ghana’s intervention through the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) coconut project, The Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the Coconut Development Unit, and donor partners helped to alleviate the woes of farmers through the development of a CSPWD-resistant variety for distribution to affected farms.
This intervention was key in protecting the position of coconut as an important crop in the Region and Ghana as a whole however, more needed to be done to promote the popularity of the crop after the CSPWD’s devastation of farms.
Since assuming duty as the Western Regional Minister, Honourable Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah having identified coconut as a crop that has the potential to significantly transform the economy of the Region plans to massively promote the production of the crop. To achieve this, access to coconut planting materials by farmers must be enhanced. Thus a coconut nursery was established at Komfoeku in the Shama District. The nursery was sited on two (2) acres of land and is estimated to produce 1,000,000 seedlings by the end of five (5) years.
In its initial production cycle, the nursery produced over 12,000 coconut seedlings.
