The District Chief Executive (DCE), Bless Kodjo Katamani,  disclosed this in an interview in Ho last Friday, soon after the swearing into office of all the 18 confirmed municipal and district chief executives.

He said the district’s proximity to Togo was a blessing the assembly would take advantage of to transform lives and create jobs for young people, through vigorous cross-border agri-business.

Mr Katamani said there were abundant and highly fertile lands in the communities in Akatsi North, which guaranteed the bountiful harvests of every crop and a large army of young people ready to take up modern farming for a living.

Further, he said, many communities in Togo relied on the Akatsi District for their supplies of zomi (palm oil) and that added to the bright prospects for the area’s cross-border trade.

He said a non-governmental organisation, the Action for Humanity, in collaboration with the African Centre for Strategic Innovation and Opportunity International Ghana, had pledged to support the project, which would take off this year, with tractors and other farm inputs.

“We are entering a new era of hope and jobs,” the DCE stressed.

Meanwhile, touching on tourism, Mr Katamani said the crocodile pond in the district capital, Ave-Dakpa, continued to attract visitors from far and near.

He said there were plans to build affordable guest houses and stopover food joints to give the area a more sparkling business status.

“We want to keep the young people active and help them to earn decent incomes,” the DCE told the Daily Graphic.

Further, Mr Katamani said the assembly had embarked on a sensitisation crusade on sanitation as part of efforts to keep the district clean at all times.

That, he said, was necessary to boost  agri-business, which would definitely attract large numbers of traders, not only from Togo, but from other parts of Ghana.

“For that matter, those who throw waste about would be swiftly prosecuted by the assembly,” Mr Katamani added.

He gave an assurance that the district was poised to make progress in a very clean environment.

The Akatsi North District has a population of 35,000, made up of a large number of young people, with more than 17, 395 being women.

The district capital, Ave-Dakpa, located along the Ho-Denu road, is known for its brisk commercial activities in addition to the large-scale production of vegetables, maize and other food crops.