Government urged to implement reports on Sheanut

Wa, Feb. 14, Ghanadot/GNA – Mr. Abdul-Mumuni Insah, a retired educationist and renowned Sheanut farmer has urged the Government to implement the various research reports on the reduction of the gestation period for the crop.

He held that effective application of those findings could revolutionise sheanut cultivation and make it “a serious business”.

Mr Insah, one-time Upper West Regional Chief Farmer of the Cocoa, Coffee and Sheanut Farmers’ Association, was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Wa on Friday.

He noted that Sheanut producers were not getting the right attention from policy makers because of the wild nature of the crop.

He appealed to the government to fulfil its promise to set up an Authority to develop and regulate the sheanut industry with the view to addressing challenges confronting its growth.

One such challenge related to the activities of private buyers who, he said, were making it impossible for the producers to reap benefits from their toil.

“They have created a free-for-all situation in the industry as they move their trucks into the villages and buy at any price (of their choice and return to their destinations without paying anything to the Association or the Municipal and District Assemblies”.

Mr. Insah said the regulation of the industry would encourage producers to consider sheanut as a cash crop and embrace any new technologies that facilitate production.
He held that the crop was in high demand abroad because of its multiple uses and urged that its development should be propelled to enable it become a key pillar to address poverty in the northern parts of the country.

GNA