ASSEMBLIES URGED TO BUY SHARES FROM TOMATO FACTORY (Daily Graphic Tuesday November 25, 2008. PAGE 20)

THE Upper East Regional Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Mr Roy Ayariga, has challenged municipal and district assemblies in the region to pool their resources to buy shares in the Northern Star Tomato Factory to boost tomato farming in the region.
He stated that becoming strategic investors and co-owners would put the assemblies in a better stead of generating more revenue.
According to the Regional MoFA Director, the Northern Star Tomato Factory was presently not operating at full capacity and for that matter, the Ministry of Trade, and Industry was scouting for a strategic investor.
Mr Ayariga said the suggestion had become imperative because as of now MoFA could not assure farmers whether the factory would purchase their produce or not.
He was addressing this year's Regional Farmers Day celebration at Sandema in the Builsa District.
"As of now, farmers are busily nursing and transplanting their tomatoes, yet no concrete assurance or contract exists between them and the factory. We have to avoid the situation where farmers will produce without a ready market, especially from the factory," he said.
Mr Ayariga, therefore, pleaded with the Regional Co-ordinating Council to take up the issue with the municipal and district assemblies and approach the Ministry of Trade and Industry with a proposal highlighting sthe agricultural potential of the Upper East Region.
He stated that MoFA had received a letter from a company that wanted to set up a factory to extract juice from baobab fruits to make a drink, adding that the demand called for the propagation of more baobab trees as they were getting extinct in some areas.
The Regional MoFA Director emphasised the importance of shea nut which had become an international commodity and called on researchers to work on the plantation approach of propagating and growing the shea tree.
Mr Ayariga noted that it was a fact that the revenue from one acre of mango was more than one acre of cocoa, asking, "If Burkina Faso is exporting mangoes, why can't we do same in the Upper East Region?"
He said the biggest problem hindering tree crop production in the region was the land tenure system, where many landowners were reluctant to release land for tree crops.
Mr Ayariga, therefore, asked the Northern Development Authority to spend money in acquiring land with the payment of compensation to landowners.
Those lands, he explained, could be made available to investors for any agricultural or industrial venture.
While commending the farmers in the region for their hard work, Mr Ayariga assured them of MoFA's support at all times to boost their yields.