Orange Growers Association benefits from MoFA training

Over 50 members of the Eastern Regional Chapter of Orange Growers Association (OGA) have had their turn of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture initiated training programme to sensitise them on fighting black spot disease.

"Observing farm sanitation protocols such as pruning, picking affected oranges from the farm to avoid fungal infection, embarking on mass spraying to protect nearby farms are key in this sensitisation exercise for the orange growers," Agric director for Achiase district in the Eastern region of Ghana, Kafui Safo, told Health Campaign Ghana at the event held at Eastfield Farms at Aprade on Friday, March 10, 2023.

Farm manager, Sam Dokyi, reiterated their plight that the fungal black spot disease affects about 50% of their over 1,500-acre orange farm. 

He further reminded the government to support them through periodic mass spraying to save the nation huge sums of money being lost to black spot disease.

Participating farmers expressed their gratitude to the Orange Growers Association (OGA) management for partnering with the Agric directorate to facilitate such timely engagement. 

They lauded the sector's resolve to extend the sensitisation to other parts to bring relief to hardworking orange growers.

Orange Growers Association (OGA) recently received 200 litres (worth over GH¢25,000) of begreen-F Organic Liquid Fertilizer from multiple award-winning Eco Index Agro Solutions Limited. OGA has therefore appealed for more of such support from the company and other stakeholders to boost the production of quality organic oranges as an economic driver for Ghana.

The "One Student, One Orange" (#OrangeWednesday) initiative from Eastfield Foundation and partner, Orange Growers Association (OGA) is also progressing steadily. The corporate social responsibility initiative started with five primary schools in Achiase district to promote the well-being of students being raised to develop the country.

Orange Growers Association (OGA) was formed a few years ago to assist farmers with up-to-date technical knowledge in producing quality organic yields and provide direct access to off-takers to purchase the produce at competitive prices to avoid post-harvest losses.