TCDA to adopt Upper West’s MATCO mango farm as northern prototype, issues warning against felling shea trees

The Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA) is set to adopt the MATCO Mango Plantation in the Upper West Region as a model farm for commercial mango cultivation in the northern sector. This initiative aims to train young people and women in agricultural practices and accelerate industrialization. The Upper West Region, often overshadowed by southern and eastern regions like Somanya, possesses immense soil and agronomic potential for tree crop farming.

Among the six priority crops mandated under the TCDA Act, mango, shea, and cashew naturally thrive in the region. Dr Andy Osei Okrah, TCDA CEO, revealed the authority's aspiration to upscale the MATCO Mango Plantation's success to other regions, thereby creating employment opportunities for young people and women. He challenged university graduates to embrace commercial agriculture instead of waiting for white-collar jobs.

The MATCO Mango Plantation, established in 2006, currently has about 5,600 mango trees. However, the plantation's annual output has stagnated at approximately 60 tonnes due to insufficient irrigation infrastructure and diseases like Bacterial Black Spot (BBS) and anthracnose. Despite these challenges, the plantation's owner, Mr Matthew Song-Aabo, highlighted his investments in water infrastructure, including four boreholes and a 40,000-litre gravity-fed overhead drip irrigation system, which could potentially boost production to the national target of 12 tonnes per acre.

Dr Okrah also stressed the importance of processing and value addition to curb post-harvest losses and warned against the illegal felling, burning, and poisoning of economic shea trees in the Upper West Region, which is punishable under the Tree Crops Regulations (L.I. 2471).