SHEA-NUT FARMERS NEED HELP (MARCH 3)

REPORTS from Tamale have revealed that large quantities of shea-nuts have piled up in warehouses and markets in the three northern regions at a time the commodity is said to be in high demand on the international market.
It is sad that after farmers in the three regions have toiled to produce shea-nuts, the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) is unable to find buyers for the produce.
We know that since the liberalisation of the purchase of cocoa, coffee and shea-nut in the 1990s, private buyers have ventured into the sector and COCOBOD has lost its monopoly.
But if all is not well with the sector, it will not be out of place to point fingers at COCOBOD, which is the body established to regulate the sector.
The COCOBOD has explained that the production and purchase of cocoa and shea-nut are undertaken by private entrepreneurs and that it only facilitates the export of cocoa.
However, the National Association of Shea-nut Farmers, Processors and Buyers claims that while in the past COCOBOD played an effective role in helping local producers to sell shea-nut to companies that exported it, the association is unsure why COCOBOD has withdrawn its support.
The Daily Graphic is aware that shea- butter, which is the fat derived from shea- nuts, is in high demand all over the world for the manufacture of food products, detergents, medicines and cosmetics as a result of its moisturising and healing abilities.
Locally and in the West African sub-region, shea-butter is in high demand for food and skin protection in the dry season. The challenge, however, has been our inability to package it to attract local customers.
The Daily Graphic is not the least amused by the latest development at a time we are encouraging our people to produce for local consumption and for export.
We have come a long way since the days when our economy was supported by only cocoa to earn foreign exchange for the country.
We have not been able to make a swift departure from our reliance on cocoa but some gains have been made to diversify the economy.
Today, receipts from the export of non-traditional crops are quite substantial and they are inching towards the returns from cocoa and gold.
Ghana has the potential to rely on its resources, both human and natural, to turn the economy around and improve the living conditions of the people.
However, the frustrations facing shea-nut farmers in the three northern regions will not motivate our people to return to the land.
Our farmers and many entrepreneurs have toiled tirelessly to increase production in the agricultural sector, with very little state support. Their initiatives will be fruitless if the state does not support them and this inaction can deter others from taking to farming.
The list of farm produce that Ghana can export is inexhaustible, including pineapples, mangoes, pawpaw, guava, cashew, groundnuts, among other crops which are in high demand on markets in Europe and America.
If we do not take radical measures to stimulate investment and productivity in the agricultural sector, the future may be bleak in the wake of the global economic meltdown.
God has endowed us with some resources over which we have comparative advantage. We can only make gains from these resources, including shea-nuts, if we help our farmers with a ready market.