Shea nut producers appeal for regulation of industry

Members of Sunbawiera Shea nuts Producers Association at Kperisi, a farming community in the Wa Municipality have called on the management of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to speed up regulation of the industry to bring sanity into it.

“Shea nuts production can alleviate extreme poverty from the Northern, Upper Eastern and Western Regions, provided management of Ghana Cocoa Board see the industry as a great potential for the economic growth of the three Regions and offered the needed attention like cocoa,” Alhaji Imoru Ayitey, Chairman of the association said.

He was speaking to newsmen at Wa after addressing a meeting of the association at Kperisi.

Alhaji Ayitey noted that the disorganised nature of the industry made it difficult for producers to benefit from their toil warning the industry may not survive if measures were not instituted to arrest the situation.

Mr Yaw Agyei Acheampong, a Service Provider in the industry said the Ministry of Trade, Industry and President’s Special Initiatives planned to organise training programmes for the producers to acquire skills to enable them improve the quality of their produce for the international market but that could not materialise.

He said the Co-ordinator of Shea nuts at COCOBOD was preparing a manual to regulate the industry from next year and urged producers to organise themselves into groups or associations to benefit from the regulated industry.

Source: GNA