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

The Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA) has announced plans to adopt the MATCO Mango Plantation in the Upper West Region as its model farm for the northern sector to spearhead commercial mango cultivation, train young people and women, and accelerate agricultural industrialisation. The Chief Executive Officer of the Authority, Dr Andy Osei Okrah, disclosed this during a working tour of the region, which included an official call on the Upper West Regional Minister at the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) in Wa and a detailed assessment of the 50-acre MATCO Mango Plantation. Dr Okrah noted that while southern and eastern belts such as Somanya had traditionally dominated the commercial mango sector, the Upper West Region possessed immense soil and agronomic potential to drive Ghana’s economic transformation through tree crops.

Out of the six priority crops mandated under the TCDA Act (Act 1010 of 2019), popularly grouped as ‘C-CORMS’ (Cashew, Coconut, Oil Palm, Rubber, Mango and Shea), three key crops, namely cashew, shea and mango, thrive naturally in the Upper West Region. “We want to use this plantation in the northern sector as a prototype and as a model,” Dr Okrah stated during the plantation tour. “We want to see whatever we can do to ensure the plantation thrives so we can upscale it to other regions. Our vision is to enable more young people and women to get into commercial tree crop farming, tap into this experience, and ensure their efforts yield wealth. ” Addressing youth unemployment, Dr Okrah challenged university graduates and young people to venture into commercial agriculture rather than wait for white-collar appointments. “Young people think farming is just entering the bush. When you apply technology, you will see the profit and won’t want to go…