Fruits and vegetables are the major elements in our diet, however, it is critical to access the production process in order to bring forth the impediments that impede the production and suggested solutions to help farmers and processors.
HortiFresh, a program supported by the Kingdom of Netherlands which succeeded GhanaVeg is aimed to establish a sustainable and internationally competitive fruit and vegetable sector has launched its horticultural reports on various findings in the horticulture value chain.
“Before fruit or vegetable could be safe, all boil down to the production level, the soil on which it is cultivated, the water been used, even the workers’ health and hygiene are all important to consider”, Mr. Selasie Atigba, a rep from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture said during the report launch.
He assured that the Ministry is doing its possible best to educate the farmers to produce fruits and vegetables to meet the international standard.
He commended HortiFresh for the great intervention to revamp the horticulture sector and called for more private partnerships with the government to grow the sector.
Prof. Francis Kweku Amaglo, the Dean of University of Development Studies (UDS) Graduate School and a research consultant to the report said Ghanaians micronutrient deficiencies are high and have big nutritional issues, fruits and vegetables are the powerhouses, therefore, farmers should consider the local market instead of the international market.
Prof. urged Ghanaians to patronize the local fruits and vegetables instead of foreign products. He advised that farmers should grow local seeds that possess the needed and required nutrients.
“We do a lot of stakeholders’ engagement, we do a lot of feedback sessions with the sector so at any point in time we do have a fair idea of things that need further probing and areas in the sector that needs studies to be conducted, new business case ideas that have to embark upon, so this is part of what we do”, the Program Manager, Sheila Assibey-Yeboah explained.
According to her, one of the main objectives of the HortiFresh program is to provide the roles that are capable to push and enhance the sector to be more competitive and the program is proud to achieve that within the space of operation.
“There are a lot of learnings that we are also packaging to give back to the sector, for instance, we worked in the agribusiness financing space and if have realized that as much as we are trying if the sector does not receive special interest rate it is going to be difficult for the companies to thrive”, the Program Manager said.
She lauded the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands for their intervention in promoting the program and supporting Ghana from moving from being an aid partner to being a trade partner.