Accra, (Greater Accra) 22nd July '99,

Professor Ivan Addae-Mensah, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, on Wednesday called on local entrepreneurs to translate the research findings of the uses of the neem tree into viable economic ventures.

He said these entrepreneurs should take advantage of the economic potentials, made available in research findings, of the tree and go into processing for local use and export, instead of concentrating on exporting raw materials to which no value has been added.

Prof. Addae-Mensah was speaking at a ceremony in Accra where he launched a 127-page brochure on the "The potentials of the neem tree in Ghana" which are research findings jointly prepared by the University of Ghana and the German aid agency, Goethe Institut in collaboration with the German Technical Co-operation (GTZ).

The project, which is the result of a seminar held in October last year at Dodowa, looks at the uses of neem trees in pest control, health care, veterinary medicine and forestry with the aim of exploiting the tree for commercial purposes.

The vice-chancellor said that the University of Ghana could, as part of its income generating activity, go into a pilot production of the tree in order to come out with some products that could be marketed.

He noted that the tree has been found to help in reclaiming the worst kind of environmental degradation posed by surface mining.

Dr Archie Sittie of the Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine who was part of the research group, said there is the need to develop the tree for local use.

He said a proposal would soon be made to help in the training of the youth in soap making, tooth paste and shampoo production which could all be got from neem trees.

Dr Sittie said a vocational school at Dodowa would be adopted to train people in the vocations.

Among other proposals are the possibility of going into the large-scale plantation of the tree to check desertification in the northern regions and a nation-wide survey of its population to boost commercialisation.

Mrs Sabine Hentzsch, Director of Goethe Institut, said the brochure is to inform and create awareness of the many uses of the tree which is already being exploited commercially in Eastern Asia and some parts of Africa.

GRi