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AGRICULTURE

Hortifresh holds stakeholders workshop for horticulturists in Wenchi

Hortifresh Fruits and Vegetables West Africa in conjunction with its development partners has organized a workshop for farmers in the horticultural value chain in Wenchi.

Date Created : 2/28/2019 4:47:07 AM : Story Author : E. D. K. Tottimeh Jnr/Ghanadistricts.com

They included farmers, transporters, and processers etc. to discuss on possible ways that mango production can be improved.

The Project Officer Mrs. Sheila Assibey-Yeboah explained that HORTIFRESH sought to establish a sustainable and internationally competitive fruit and vegetable sector that would contribute to inclusive economic growth in Ghana and neighboring Ivory Coast.

This she added will ensure food sustainability and again nutrition security in our part of Africa.

She explained that the program aimed at reaching to about 15 thousand farmers to increase their productivity by 20% by the year 2021.

She mentioned that despite the challenges associated with mango farming, it had over the years been a good source of livelihood for many homes because it had the ready market for export.

To ensure financial sustenance and improvement in production, the Project Officer mentioned that they were working hand in hand with some financial institutions such as the banks to support farmers with loans to enable farmers expand their farm size as it will go a long way to also create more employment avenue for the youth.

She however mentioned that Hortifresh Fruits and Vegetables West Africa has been visiting individual companies to offer technical advice to their work.

Mrs. Assibey –Yeboah finally said the project was working on increasing awareness for Ghanaians on the nutritional benefits of fruits.

Individual farmers and the value chain actors took turns to raise very important concerns on the challenges they have had to go through in their work.

These challenges spanned from marketing, fighting pests, means of transportation among others.

Mr. Prince Oppong Mensah of POMA Enterprise said since mango was a perennial plant a factory could be established in the municipality to process the harvested fruits into chips which could bring about foreign exchange. He stated that Wenchi was also notable area in the country because of its mango production but could not boast of any company to process the fruits.

He further appealed to the Agency to liaise with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to get investors to establish processing company to serve the mango industry in the municipality.

Miss Akua Adutwumwaa a 10 acre mango farmer expressed her happiness for the capacity building workshop and called for such regular programs to enhance their knowledge in their work.

She however requested of the Wenchi municipal Assembly, National disaster management organization, Ghana National Fire service to crack the whip on unscrupulous people who indiscriminately set fires into people’s farms with the aim of hunting for game.

She again appealed to the Assembly to reshape the Botenso-Asampu road as there were a lot of mango and cashew farms in the area. She added that when the season is due and they hire the services of KIA trucks and other vehicles they either refuse to convey their items or they charge them exorbitant fares which makes them feel frustrated in the work they do.

Several mango farmers drawn from all parts of the municipality took part in the day’s workshop.