Akim Oda (Eastern Region), 1 March, ’99
About 500 farmers drawn from the Eastern Region have ended a day’s workshop on the cultivation and marketing of sunflower at Akim Oda. The workshop, which was organised by the Ghana Sunflower Association (GSA), was aimed at equipping the participant with the necessary skills to enhance their cultivation of the crop. Mr Emmanuel Twi Yeboah, National President of the Association reminded the participants that farming is business and urged them to manage their farms well to reap the desired benefits. He called on them to study the weather pattern carefully before planting to ensure that the seeds are sown at the right time to enable them to maximise production. The Eastern regional co-ordinator of the GSA, Mr Mark Kwame Frempong said sunflower cultivation is scientific and appealed to agricultural extension officers to make their services available to the farmers at all times. He asked district assemblies to extend the facilities under the poverty alleviation fund to farmers, who would like to go into the cultivation of sunflower. Mr Seth Quartey, a marketing consultant told the farmers that the cultivation of sunflower is lucrative, adding that as at January one this year, the world market price for a ton of raw seed sunflower was 775,000 cedis. He said the quality of raw seed required on the world market should have oil component of not less than 44 percent and called on them to us the right seed for cultivation.
