New action plan for mango industry

A FIVE-YEAR mango industry action plan has been developed to promote the competitiveness of the industry on both the local and the international markets.
The plan forms part of effort by the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), which is responsible for implementing and managing the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) in Ghana, to support the mango industry value chain for the southern horticultural zone.
In this regard, workshops are being organised for mango, pineapple, vegetables, maize and rice farmers in different parts of the country, under the aegis of ACDI/VOCA, the implementing partner for MiDA in the southern agricultural zone.
This is to enhance the returns on high value cash and food crops produced mainly by poor and small-holder farmers to improve their delivery for export.
The MCA, which is aimed at accelerating the pace of the processes towards enhancing economic growth and the reduction of poverty, has led to the agricultural transformation activities in 23 districts in Ghana.
Stakeholders in the mango industry action plan are, among other objectives, to verify and identify the preliminary findings of a mango value chain analysis conducted for enhancing industry competitiveness, developing a vision for the mango industry and identifying opportunities that would increase the competitiveness of the value chain to impact on incomes and employment.
The Programme Manager of the West Africa Office of ACDI/VOCA, Mr Olaf Kula, told the Daily Graphic that the MiDA was committed to making the five industry areas more productive and efficient, adding that the participation of the stakeholders could give them the impetus to identify challenges in the sector and provide possible solutions to overcoming those challenges.
He said the MCA post-harvest infrastructure for farmers were ongoing, as well as the rehabilitation of existing infrastructure for farmers coupled with farm irrigation.
According to Mr Yula, the focus of the MCA was to build industrial leaders who would use resources to make the industry an attractive and competitive one.
He said participants in a mango value chain workshop unanimously agreed on an industry action that, among other things, would address the absence of finance and financial services to the mango industry, poor agronomic practices, the challenge of lack of post-harvest infrastructure and the poor communication and co-ordination within and along the mango value chain.