body-container-line-1
09.10.2005 Business & Finance

Farmers trained in sunflower production

09.10.2005 LISTEN
By GNA

Ashaiman, Oct 9, GNA - Ninety-three members of the Ashaiman Irrigation Co-operative Farmers Society have undergone a day's training in sunflower production.

It forms part of the Farmer Based Organisational Development Fund (FBODF), facility for farmers who have organised themselves into groups to help them in capacity building, production and processing. In an interaction with the media, Chief Executive Officer of Tropical Agricultural Marketing and Consultancy Services, a consultancy firm in sunflower production, Mr Issa Sulemana disclosed that so far 400 million cedis had been approved for the production of sunflower under the programme.

He said the programme was to sensitise the farmers on the importation of sunflower production and also to encourage them to know that the huge amounts used in its imports could go to them as revenue. Ghana imports over 200,000 dollars worth of sunflower oil annually. The programme he said would help bring employment to the youth when established.

He took the participants through the soil requirement for the production, chemical control as well as storage and marketing and some modern agricultural practices.

Mr Sulemana, however, advised them on the need to start production on a small scale so that they could implement the production methods they have acquired effectively, and try its marketability before moving to large-scale production.

body-container-line