Amoma (B/A), April 17, GNA - About 50 cashew farmers from Amoma, a farming community in the newly created Jema District of Brong Ahafo, have formed an Association to promote the cultivation of the crop. Mr Kwame Fosu, who is the Chairman of the Association, told the Ghana News Agency that members had cultivated a total 400 hectares of the crop.

"The main challenge facing us is the lack of credit facilities to help us expand our farms and also maintain them against bushfires," he said.

Mr Fosu called on the President to include cashew cultivation in the President's Special Initiatives, to encourage the youth to get actively involved in the production of the crop.

He appealed to the district assembly to attach great importance to cashew cultivation, which he said had become the second major crop apart from cocoa, by offering financial support to the youth to venture into large- scale cultivation.

Mr Fosu expressed the need for the establishment of a cashew marketing company to offer ready and stable market for farmers.