OTAL moves charity shipment to assist blind farmers in Ghana

OT Africa Line (OTAL) has moved a shipment of farming machinery from the UK to Tema in Ghana free of charge on behalf of the National Federation of Young Farmer's Club (NYC), supported by a project for the charity Sight Savers International. The machinery is to be used as part of a community-based initiative for agricultural rehabilitation which helps blind and partially blind farmers regain their economic and social independence.

The shipment consisted of a Massey Ferguson 290 tractor, a trailer and a plough. The consignment was shipped on board OTAL's ro-ro/container vessel, Kintampo, from Teesport in north east England.

OTAL rolled the tractor, trailer and plough over the Kintampo's ro-ro ramp and cleared the shipment through Tema's port gates in record time, just ready for the commencement of the new leguminous and tuber preparation and planting season.

According to OTAL's marketing manager, Paul Page, the line was delighted to assist the charity as "Sight Savers International is one of the UK's leading organisations working to prevent and cure eye disease and blindness in developing countries. OTAL has designated Sight Savers as one of the main beneficiaries of its support given the excellent care and work undertaken by the organisation in West Africa.

"In Ghana, where Sight Savers has been working for almost 50 years, one of the organisation's main projects is directed towards river blindness, a disease caused by parasitic worms and spread by the bite of the black simulium fly. It blinds young adults when they should be at their peak of economic productivity and so causes distress not only to the individual but to the immedite families and the communities in which it is endemic.

"River blindness is most prevalent in West Africa, but it can be beaten by drug; it requires individuals to take a particular medicine once a year for fifteen years if the transmission cycle is to be broken. In the interim, help needs to be given to those who have lost their sight already.

"As OTAL has such strong links with West Africa, home of some of the most vulnerable communities in the world, we are aware of the significance of this shipment and the assistance it will provide to enable a number of blind and partially sighted people to continue farming and to develop income generating activities."

The YFC was inspired to raise funds to purchase the tractor equipment after visiting Ghana last year in conjunction with Sight Savers International to help blind farmers develop and sustain farm land.