Tamale, Jan. 7, GNA - Mr Sylvester Adongo, Northern Regional Director of Food and Agriculture, has called on Ghanaians to consume fresh milk to boost the local industry.

He noted that there was plenty of fresh milk in the country especially in the cattle rearing areas going to waste due to low patronage. Mr Adongo made the call at a workshop on "Training Herdsmen, Milk Producers and Market Agents to enhance Food Safety and Increased Income," in Tamale on Thursday.

It was aimed at educating the producers and market women on how to produce fresh milk in hygienically acceptable conditions for consumption and to process it into various products.

About 50 farmers, market women and experts attended the workshop funded by the British Department for International Development (DFID). Mr Adongo said there were animals capable of producing about six litres of milk a day, adding that, "It needs the patronage of the public to motivate producers to produce more for use".

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) would support farmers to go into dairy farming to boost the local milk industry, the Director stated.

MOFA was also ready to assist women in fresh milk related businesses including "Wagaji" and "Fula" to grow their ventures. He said that a Milk Processing Factory would be set up at Pong-Tamale in the Northern Region to process fresh milk into various products early this year.

He said farmers and people would also be trained for the milk production industry under the project and supported to use the new technologies they would be introduced to set to up their own businesses. Dr Emmanuel Lartey Kwame Osafo, a Senior Lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University for Science and Technology (KNUST), said the university had conducted research, which showed that fresh milk products could be preserved for a longer period.

Dr Kwame Osafo who was the Project Coordinator of the workshop gave the assurance that the KNUST would assist to promote fresh milk consumption to boost the industry.