Asamankese, (E/R) May 25, GNA - Orange farmers in the Kwaebibirem District have appealed to Pinora, the fruit processing company near Asamankese to purchase their produce to prevent them from rotting. They said they relied, to a large extent on the company to purchase their oranges since they expanded their farms when the company was set up three years ago in order to be main suppliers of raw materials of the company.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency at Kade, a spokesman for the farmers, Mr Alex Owusu Gyapong, said the farmers were increasingly becoming disappointed as a result of the company's reluctance or inability to purchase large quantities of their produce as expected. He said early this year, he harvested four and a half truck-loads of oranges but the factory was able to buy only three trucks. Unfortunately for him, he said he did not have ready market for the rest of the one and a half truck-load and most of the produce were left to rot.

Mr Gyapong expressed the hope that the company would increase the quantities of oranges that it buys so that it would not let the farmers down. He appealed to Pinora to pay for the produce of farmers in time to give farmers some hope. 25 May 2008