The Tease branch of the Dangme West Mango Nursery Producers Association (D. W. MANUPRA) on Saturday held a sensitization forum to streamline the activities of its members.
The forum also aimed at creating awareness about challenges facing the mango nursery industry and to seek the support of the Dangme West District Assembly and other stakeholders in addressing them.
Mango production, one of the major agricultural endeavours of the people of Dodowa in the Eastern Region is currently beset with problems of irrigation and inadequate inputs for maximized returns.
Further worsening the situation is the failure of the district assembly to be proactive in terms of its support and regulation of the industry as complained of by the farmers.
In his comment, Mr George Acheampong, Service Provider for (D. W. MANUPRA) called on the district assembly to perform its regulatory functions effectively to ensure that seedlings produced met the global standards.
Mr Acheampong again called on the assembly not only to assist the farmers in the areas of extension services but to be consistent with the practice to enable them realize maximum returns from their endeavour.
He said the association planned to conduct a research on the strength of the industry in terms of income generation and employment creation avenues at the district to convince stakeholders to support the industry.
Mr Mathew Asiedu, President of the Association said it had started receiving assistance in terms of grants from the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge Fund (BUSAC) to improve its activities.
Mr Asiedu said, the association hoped to rely on the assistance of the BUSAC Fund to expand the production of mango seedlings across the entire assembly.