Small holder farmers train in Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato farming

Some 400 small holder farmers are undergoing training in Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato farming in Dodze in the Volta region.

The nine day training programme, under the auspices of Maphlix Trust Farms at Dodze and German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) will see the farmers well equipped to grow the Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato among other fruits and vegetables for export.

The training facilitated by the Adidome Agricultural Institute commenced last Monday will end on August 12, 2020, after which all participants will be duly certified to go into brisk farming of the vegetable among others.

The farmers, from Konongo, Kentu North and South and surrounding areas are also being taken through the basics.

Managing Director of Maphlix Trust Farms, Mr Felix Kamassah told Business Finder the objective was to beef up the number of out-growers to be able to produce enough to feed the potato processing factory and ensure they are armed with the relevant and appropriate agricultural methods.

“Our target is to train 400 smallholder farmers by the end of the nine day workshop so they can meet set targets in terms of yields,” he told this reporter in an interview.

According to Mr Kamassah, the original plan was to handle 50 participants a day but “we have to do more than that, about 80 farmers are coming each day for the sessions,”

After the training, Maphlix Farms would supply the farmers with the requisite planting material, as well as extend other services like tractor and equipment services to them. When the crops are due for harvesting the company buys from the farmers for onward export.

Mr Kamassah has indicated that the plan was to make his farm part of the One District One Factory (1D1F) initiative. Even though a project proposal had been submitted to the 1D1F Secretariat and the Ministry of Trade and Industry some two years ago, no feedback had been received.

When up and running, the factory would give employment to some 200 people and benefit about 500 out-growers in the Ketu North Municipality.

The agribusiness entrepreneur who is also the president of the Vegetable Producers and Exporters Association of Ghana (VEPEAG) said there was a huge international market for vegetables, especially the OFSP and that given adequate funding there would be a significant expansion of their farming activities.