Vegetable farmers adopt action plan

Page 30
06-11-08

STAKEHOLDERS in the vegetables industry have adopted a five-year action plan to enable them to increase the quality and quantity of vegetables produced for both the domestic and international markets.
They are projecting that by the next five years, Ghana’s vegetable export industry would be competitive, marketing about 10,000 tonnes per annum of high value vegetables globally.
The action plan was adopted at the end of the last in the series of workshops organised by ACDI/VOCA, an international NGO working in partnership with the Millennium Development Authority to implement the authority’s agricultural projects in the Southern zone.
Participants at the vegetables workshop included input suppliers, small and large-scale vegetable farmers, researchers, wholesalers, retailers and other exporters of vegetables, representatives of financial service providers, as well as agric extension and inspection officers.
At the end of the workshop, the participants identified access to adequate finance, inadequate infrastructure, access to high quality seeds and technology, as well as land tenure problems, as the main challenges facing vegetable players in the vegetable industry.
They suggested among other things that farmers should be educated to adopt modern framing procedures and change their attitudes towards loan repayment and appealed to banks not to perceive agriculture as a risky investment but rather employ consultants to oversee activities of farmers for enhanced vegetable production.
Apart from the request for the provision of adequate post-harvest infrastructure and equipment including irrigation systems, tractors, pack houses, cold chain, combine harvesters, planters and composting plans, the participants also called for provision of adequate information on the modern equipment and infrastructure to all actors.
Exporters must also make available information from the market to the farmers on the needs of the market including varieties on demand, prices and standards available.
While encouraging farmers to form associations and farmer-based organisations, participants in the workshop also emphasised the need to educate farmers on good agronomic practices to complement the efforts of demonstration centres.
A Senior Technical Assistant of ACDI/VOCA, Emmanuel Dormon, expressed his organisation’s preparedness to partner all players in the agricultural sector to help in the full realisation of the rich potential of the country’s agricultural and agribusiness sectors.