The Ghana Export Promotion Council (GEPC) in collaboration with Ministry of Food and Agriculture has embarked on an outreach programme to district assemblies to expand the production base of selected non-traditional export products.

Mr. Gerald Nyarko-Mensah, head of the General Promotion Division of GEPC, who made this known in an interview with ADM yesterday, said 25 district assemblies are taking part in the programme, which is being carried out in the Central, Western, Eastern, Ashanti, Volta and the Greater Accra regions.

He said the Central Region is cultivating sweet potatoes and bird's eye chilli pepper, Eastern, Ashanti and Western regions are cultivating pepper, Greater Accra is cultivating mangoes and the Volta Region is cultivating pepper and vegetables.

"Apart from the cultivation of pepper in the Ashanti Region, additional products are being developed. These include traditional textiles such as kente, brass ware, wooden handicrafts as well as ceramics," he said

He said in the middle of last year a nursery for plants was established at Baifikrom near Mankessim in the Central Region and Dodowa in the Greater Accra Region. He said GEPC has targeted about 200 acres for sweet potatoes and 2,500 acres for bird's eye chillies.

Mr. Nyarko-Mensah said each district assembly is expected to give the seedlings free of charge to farmers who would be interested in cultivating them in the various assemblies. He said GEPC would train the youth of the districts that would be interested.

After cultivation, GEPC would buy the products from the farmers and export them. However, he said, farmers who would like to export the products themselves, would be assisted.