Regulate price of sheanut...KPERISI FARMERS APPEAL TO GOVT (PAGE 21)

FARMERS at Kperisi in the Wa Municipality of the Upper West Region have appealed to the government to regulate the price of sheanut in the country.
According to them, that would save farmers from being cheated by unscrupulous people who bought the product at very low prices.
“It would be appreciated if the government will pay the same attention to the sheanut industry as being done for cocoa,” they added.
The farmers made the appeal at an advocacy programme sponsored by the BUSAC Fund. The programme, organised by the Sunbawira Sheabutter Producers Association, was attended by 300 farmers.
The Chairman of the association, Alhaji Imoro Ayittey, who made the appeal on behalf of the farmers, said the advocacy programme was being undertaken with the objective of getting the government to regulate the price of sheabutter and also include it in the President’s Special Initiative (PSI).
He observed that poverty had resulted in the cutting down of economic trees like shea for charcoal production.
Mr Ayittey was of the view that early intervention and support for the industry would enable it to flourish like cocoa.
He commended the landlords in the Kperisi area for their decision to release 400 acres for a shea-nut plantation.
A service provider to the BUSAC Fund, Mr George Acheampong, urged the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to establish a scholarship scheme for large-scale shea butter producers in northern Ghana.
He also called for a research into the sheanut industry to develop varieties that would mature earlier instead of the present situation where it takes about 10 years for a single tree to mature.