THE
Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF) has provided funds for the
cultivation of over five thousand (5000) acres of mango plantations in the
Brong Ahafo, Volta, Upper East, Upper West and Northern regions this year.
This is to give meaning to the
government’s plans to champion mango cultivation in the Savannah areas and
other parts of the country as a mechanism to increase farmer incomes and combat
rural poverty.
Already, EDIF has invested over GH¢11.7
million into the project and its goal is to ensure that a total of 20,000 acres
of mango plantations are cultivated by 2013.
The Board Chairman of EDIF, Prof Francis
Dodoo made this know at an interactive meeting with beneficiary farmers of the
EDIF mango project.
The meeting was organised to enable the
board and management of EDIF have first hand information of the requirements of
the farmers involved in the project so as to address these needs and facilitate
the execution of the project.
Prof Dodoo noted that the fund had
engaged some consultants in June, 2011 to visit and inspect the progress of
work on the various farms.
“Based on the recommendations from that
exercise, appropriate steps had been taken to ensure that the fund gives you
the necessary support to ensure the success of the project,” he stated.
Prof Dodoo mentioned that between 2009
and 2010, a total of 6,600 acres was cultivated and that 39 farmers had been
selected for the 2011 planting season.
He said EDIF was considering how it
could extend further support to the farmers who had established their farms
during the 2009 and 2010 seasons, so that the farms would be well maintained to
flourish.
The Board Chairman again noted that
although the Fund had no plans to acquire inputs for the farmers, it intended
to ensure that the inputs acquired were standard.
“We have started discussions about how
we might facilitate this process by perhaps advertising and screening suppliers
of inputs, so that we can make available to the farmers, the qualified
suppliers’ list,” he said.
Prof Dodoo also did not mince words in
cautioning the farmers not to listen to rumours that sought to suggest that the
board and the new management of EDIF were not interested in the success of the
project.
“Nobody in EDIF is interested in the
failure of the project. For this project to succeed, we need to build trust
between us,” he intimated.
The farmers raised a number of concerns
including the difficulties in acquiring land, the cost of land preparation, the
cost of engaging technical personnel and casual workers and the lack of
irrigation.
A former Northern Regional Minster,
Prince Imoro Andani, who is also a mango farmer, suggested the need to locate
some of the mango farms closer to each other so they could source water from a
single irrigation facility, thereby reducing cost.
He said mango farming could become a
very important source of revenue to farmers in Northern Ghana if given the
needed support.
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