GOLDEN STAR ESTABLISHES OIL PALM PLANTATION (PAGE 20, DEC 8)

GOLDEN Star Resources (GSR) Limited, a mining company, has established a 790-hectare oil palm plantation as a community smallholder plantation for farmers in the Mpohor Wassa East District of the Western Region.
The plantation was established in 2006 at the cost of US$ 1.8 million and a total of 104,000 oil palm seedlings have so far been raised for the project.
Smallholder farmers numbering 132 have been allocated four-hectares each of the plantation to manage for their own benefit.
Traditional authorities in the area have promised to release 8,774 hectares freely for the project, 5,800 hectares of which have already been released.
The project has also provided employment for over 310 contract employees within the mine’s catchment areas and is meant to help reduce poverty through employment generation and create wealth through sustainable agri-business.
It will also develop a sustainable alternative livelihood scheme for the communities with contributions emanating from mining.
A company, Golden Star Oil Palm Plantation (GSOPP) Limited, has been established as a subsidiary of Golden Star Resources Limited to manage the plantation.
A ceremony was held at the weekend for the allocation of plots on the plantation to 63 smallholder farmers at Wassa Ateiku.
In an address read on his behalf by the Chief Executive Officer of the Minerals Commission, Mr Ben Aryee, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Collins Dauda said the Government had not taken a back seat in this respect.
He said it had proactively initiated the development of 10,000 acres of oil palm, 6,000 acres of which had already been developed in the Prestea-Huni Valley area, adding that this had created 7,000 jobs.
In this regard, he said the Government’s policy required mining companies to put in place alternative livelihood programmes designed to enhance the economic and social wellbeing of the communities among which they operated, in fulfilment of their corporate social responsibility.
Alhaji Dauda said that, in addition to the mining activities, would augment employment generation while the mine was in operation and also provide a replacement of economic activity after the mine was closed. It would also prevent or at least minimise the likelihood of the development of the dreaded “ghost mining towns” phenomenon.
“Indeed, classic Ghanaian cases can be cited at Bibiani, Tarkwa and other mining towns in this area, which had socio-economic activities virtually halting when mining activities slowed down or stopped”, the minister explained.
The results, he said, were unemployment, poverty and in some cases, even complete abandonment of the once thriving communities.
“Against this background, this initiative by Golden Star Resources to create a sustainable community-based agri-business through the development of oil palm plantations to provide economic livelihoods in its stakeholder communities, both during and after the mines have closed is a laudable one”, he said.
The Vice-President (Operations) of Golden Star Resources, Mr Dan Owiredu, explained that the GSOPP had been conceived as a major innovative smallholder plantation development project and a flagship in corporate social responsibility.
He said on the basis of its community engagement and support policy, the company was promoting through GSOPP an approach that ensured the full participation of and total benefit to the people.
“This project is a true example of a strategic partnership under which the chiefs freely offered their lands and support, whilst GRS committed itself to promoting and investing into the cultivation of oil palm to create employment and wealth for the people”, he said.
Mr Owiredu said as a major feature, the GSOPP had developed a unique business model based on community consultation and focused on creating immediate employment and long-term income that had attracted support from a range of stakeholders.
Essentially, he explained, this business model ensured that oil palm development was carried out in a more sustainable, environmentally friendly and socially responsible manner.
To help fund this major agricultural project, he said the Golden Star Resources had steadily invested in a number of community projects through a Community Development Fund into which the company paid a charge of a US$ 1 per ounce of gold sold and 0.5 per cent of its pre-tax profits.
This special allocation of funds, he explained, was separate from the revenues the mine’s operations paid in the form of royalties to the government, which for the past five years amounted to US$ 27.9 million from the company’s two operating mines at Bogoso and Wassa Akyempim.
Mr Owiredu said the company was looking for development partners to enable the company achieve and accelerate a target rate of establishing over 500 hectares per annum to benefit more communities.
The Member of Parliament for Wassa Mpohor East, Mr A.E. Amoah, commended the mining company for the establishment of the project, but urged the company to develop a special farming project for the young women in the area.
The Omanhen of the Wassa Fiase Traditional Area, Osagyefo Kwamina Ennimil V1, advised farmers in the area to embrace the oil palm project wholeheartedly to help improve their living conditions.