Ghana fruit and vegetable sectors grapple with challenges of growth

Dakar - The president of the Vegetables Producers and Exporters Association of Ghana (VEPEAG), Joseph Tontoh, recently mentioned vegetable farming as having strong potential to significantly address the country's high youth unemplyment levels and earn the country foreign currency. He said vegetable farming was a very lucrative venture that did not necessarily need sophisticated skills or training. Tonto said the demand for vegetables on the international market was very high and that the nation could earn millions from their export. As an illustration of the potential he mentioned chillies, which he said only take six weeks to produce and a box of which retails for £5 in the UK. He said an acre of chilli could yield 350 boxes if well maintained, and that the crop could be cultivated all year round with irrigation facilities.

Tontoh said Ghana had a competitive advantage over countries like Kenya and Uganda due to time differences and its relative proximity to the major world markets compared to the two East African countries. "Although Ghana has a competitive advantage over them, it cannot produce enough vegetables to meet the demand because of logistical constraints," he said. He mentioned some as being the lack of irrigation facilities and capital; the high cost of farming inputs and the lack of packaging and storage facilities.

Meanwhile, agriculture minister Ernest Debrah says a fund to transform the country's agriculture will help close current gaps in the export and marketing of farm produce, especially pineapple, between Ghanaian companies and their foreign competitors. He was speaking during a recent visit to Bomarts Farms, a leading pineapple processor in the country's Eastern Region. He was responding to a statement by company managing director, Anthony Botchway, in which he said they lacked the required funding to set-up a complete production unit for the processing of the fruit to the required standard. The production facility available only makes possible the production of a second grade fruit that attracts a lower than premium price.

Bomarts Farms Limited was established in 1985 and sells pineapples and mangoes to the local and international market. It exports 50% of its MD 2 pineapple to the UK, 30% to Italy and 20% to Switzerland. Botchway said Bomarts produced both the smooth cayenne and MD 2 (Extra Sweet or Golden variety) pineapple varieties. He explained that the introduction of the MD 2 has pushed the traditional Ghanaian export variety (smooth cayenne) out of the international market, putting farmers in a very difficult situation. The World Bank is sponsoring an initiative which seeks to assist smallholders to convert their smooth cayenne fields to MD 2 by providing access to planting materials in collaboration with the ministry of agriculture.

Another company grappling with the challenges of growth in the Ghanaian horticultural sector is Blue Sky Product (Ghana) Limited, also in the Eastern Region. BSPL specializes in the export of freshly harvested fruit to Europe. The company has recently made capital investments to increase its production capacity for organic products. Company chairman Anthony Pile said among the challenges confronting BSPL were inflation and exchange rate fluctuations. He also lamented an increasing willingness by consumers in the major world markets to boycott air freighted and imported products. "We will fight to keep our organic business for the sake of all our farmers, their families and communities in what is one of the poorest areas of the country", he declared.

BSPL director Seth Dei said the company now employs over a thousand people, from starting out with 35 employess ten years ago. With the current expansion it was set to increase its labour force and help to fight unemployment in the area. He said Blue Skies exports over ten tonnes of processed fruits daily, approximately 20% of the country's pineapple exports and 1% of the country's total exports.

Publication date: March 30 2007
Author: Chido Makunike
Copyright: www.freshplaza.com