Jachie (Ash), Aug 7, GNA - About 140 farmers drawn from seven communities in the Bosomtwe area of the Bosomtwe-Atwima-Kwanwoma District of Ashanti have been trained in the production of ginger and pineapple as part of the President's Special Initiative (PSI) on ginger and pineapples.

Mr Gbamara Edward Dery, the Bosomtwe-Atwima-Kwanwoma District Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture who announced this, said the training was to equip the farmers with the technical knowledge in the proper cultivation of ginger and pineapples.

The training, he said, was also designed to introduce them to marketing opportunities and sources of funding, which could be sourced through the district assemblies.

Mr Dery was addressing farmers at a day's training workshop at Jachie at the weekend as part of a district-wide training of farmers. He told the farmers of ready market for their produce both on the domestic front and outside the country and said the rehabilitated Gyankobaa Ginger Processing Factory in the Atwima District was ready to absorb any quantity of ginger produced in the district.

In an address read on his behalf, Mr Bright Addai-Mununkum, District Chief Executive, urged the farmers to form co-operatives to enable them access loans from the banks since the government did not believe in pushing money into the pockets of people for not doing any work.

He announced that seedlings for both ginger and pineapples would be supplied free of charge to prospective farmers and asked them to liaise with agricultural extension officers to help them with technical advice.