Kwae (ER), Sept. 4, GNA - The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, is a large-scale oil palm farmer, a forum on sustainable palm oil production has learnt.

The Ashanti King has cultivated over 1,000 acres of oil palm at Ofoase near Juaso in the Ashanti Akim South District and also acquired a large tract of land between Kumawu and the Afram Plains for another plantation.

This made known by Ohenenana Fredua Prempeh, who represented the Asantehene at the forum. The forum was organized by the Ghana Oil Palm Development Company for small scale oil palm growers and palm oil producers with other stakeholders in the Eastern and Ashanti Regions. It was aimed at developing strategies to help Ghana to produce sustainable palm oil in accordance with international standards. Ohenenana Prempeh said Otumfuo Osei Tutu decided to go into oil palm cultivation as his contribution to make Ghana a leading palm oil producer.

He said oil palm cultivation and palm oil production had made nations like Malaysia and Indonesia wealthy. Ohenenana said Ghanaians and the nation could become wealthy if they took oil palm growing and palm oil production seriously. Mr Joseph Tsagli, a Senior Programme Officer of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said the EPA, concerned about sustainable development and protection of the environment, had adopted strategies to achieve that objective. These include the requirement of an environmental impact assessment and the encouragement of the use of resources in a way that would not endanger the future.

The EPA, he said, was also ensuring that land use did not degrade the soil through forest conservation and stressed the need to preserve biodiversity so that medicinal plants are not unnecessarily destroyed. Mr Tsagli warned that if sound environmental practices were not followed it could facilitate Climate Change. "Climate Change could cause extreme heat and flooding and if the trend of environmental degradation goes unchecked it could badly affect Ghana's agricultural production and by 2050 it would be difficult to cultivate crops like cocoa and cassava," he warned. The senior programme officer said this would have undesirable repercussions for the nation's economy and standard of living. Mr Tsagli asked palm oil producers to avoid the waste they generate from going into rivers because it could badly affect aquatic life. "In keeping in mind sustainable practices, look at waste management as a key component," he advised.