A total of 150 acres of land around the tributaries of the White Volta have been cleared to give way to grafted mango seedling plantations for various farmer-groupings at Kpalung and Kukobila in the Savelugu-Nanton Municipality of the Northern Region.

The project is under the initiative of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA). Strategically, the farmers will adopt an inter-crop farming method to grow maize and groundnuts in the mango plantation to generate income and create source of livelihood for the farmers.

During a tour of the project sites, the Minister of State at the Presidency in-charge of Development Projects, Dr. Mustapha Ahmed said the intervention of SADA has come at an opportune time to help address the issues of poverty among the people as well as to create job avenues in the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone (NSEZ).

Dr. Ahmed, who is also the Member of Parliament for Ayawaso East in the Greater Accra Region, urged the farmers to fully participate in SADA projects to help reverse their socio-economic status. The minister was in the region to acquaint himself with the new operations of SADA.

The Savelugu-Nanton project is part of a newly-launched Mango Project being rolled out in the Northern Region by SADA.

The project will also attract the sinking of boreholes around the plantation for all-year-round farming activities in the area.

The Chief Executive Officer of SADA, Alhaji Gilbert Iddi, reiterated the need for the beneficiary farmers to own the project for the development of their communities. He gave assurance that the doors of SADA are opened for further collaboration and assistance.

A spokesperson for the farmers, Mr. Mahama Alhassan commended SADA for its initiatives, adding that the beneficiary farmers are indeed feeling the impact of the work of the authority. He appealed to SADA to extend its services in the area of creating fire belts around farms to prevent bush fires.

SADA is collaborating with a private sector initiative, led by a retired agricultural officer, Mallam Seidu to produce and supply the grafted mango seedlings to farmers in the area.

The seedlings are to be supplied to some identified out-growers, who will grow the mangoes according to certain specifications and standards for the international market. Under this initiative, farmers would be encouraged to integrate tree crop production with cereal production.

There will also be bee-keeping by Women in the mango plantations to harvest honey in order to generate income for themselves.