Ghanaian farmers crying over dying citrus plantations

Citrus farming has the potential to become a major source of income contributor to the Ghanaian economy as the country explores alternatives to over-reliance on cocoa.

Compared to other African economies, Ghana has competitive advantage in citrus exports to Europe.

But Ghanaian citrus farmers are in dilemma as they are gradually losing their livelihood to pests and diseases.

Seventy-two year old Afia Achiaa went into citrus production 20 years ago. Like many others at Mankranso in the Ahafo Ano South District of the Ashanti Region, the venture is a main source of income.

But Afia and her family’s plantation is severely devastated by high fruit drop due to disease attack.

“I enjoyed the high orange yield in times past but now I’m in dire financial difficulty because of the premature ripe and drops of the fruits,” she complained.

The Citrus Angular Leaf Spot disease is said to be spreading at an alarming rate in Ghana – crop yield loss is at a 50 percent minimum.

This is a constraint to citrus production as posited by Ofori Amanfo Dacosta, Chairman of the Citrus Producers Association.

“We are finding it difficult to pay for our children’s school fees and controlling the farm is a big challenge; we spend a lot of money to spray the farm but at the end of it we don’t get anything to pay for the cost of maintenance,” he said.

The air-borne disease started spreading from the Central Region about seven years ago, and it is taking over farms like bushfire in other regions.

 

Livelihoods, employment opportunities and potential foreign exchange earnings are eluding individual farmers, communities and the nation.

“Most Scandinavian countries want to buy our citrus because the quality is good but because some of these pests and diseases are not quarantined, we cannot export,” observed Dr. Francis Collison Brentu at the University of Ghana’s Forest and Horticulture Crops Research Centre.

The citrus sub-sector of Ghana’s agricultural industry has the potential to create an estimated one million jobs in Ghana.

Seth Ayihi’s Pinora Limited, which processes fruit juice for export, is currently producing about 40 percent below capacity due to challenges in accessing raw materials.

Pests, diseases and climate change remain a bane to the citrus value chain, he said, raising fears of potential job losses at the processing end of citrus production.

Seth says intervention for farmers must be immediate and national in order to achieve the desired results.

“Ideally we need a national concerted effort from all stakeholders, backed by policy from the government to tackle some of these diseases so that we can have foreign exchange from the citrus in addition to cocoa,” stated Dr. Brentu.

The Platform for African-European Partnership on Agricultural Research for Development (PAEPARD) is seeking innovative ways to control the angular leaf spot of citrus disease.

Prof. Wale Adekunle of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) says the challenge can be addressed within a season if interest groups come together under a national platform.

“What FARA has worked on in the last 12years is to develop an approach to solve this kind of problem and we call it ‘the Development of Integrated Agricultural Research for Development’ in which place all the stakeholders work together to determine the research and development agenda,” he said.

Ghana’s parliament has an oversight responsibility for various state ministries.

Francis Kojo Ackah, a ranking member of the Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs Committee of Parliament, says access to information is critical.

“We are now getting to know that this disease if not controlled can destroy the whole citrus production in this country; so seriously we are going to address this issue so that we curb the menace as quickly as possible,” he assured.

 

Citrus Producers’ Chairman, Mr. Amanfo Dacosta, is calling for mass spraying of citrus farms as part of a holistic solution to the challenge.

Other challenges to address include low soil fertility, lack of disease-free planting material, poor harvesting and post-harvest handling as well as lack of market access.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh 

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