The Managing Director, Claude David Convisser at a media briefing in Tamale, said soya beans and orange-fleshed sweet potatoes will be cultivated alongside the Jatropha plants.

He explained the rationale for adopting the mixed farming saying, “Soya meat has more protein than lean beef and soya milk is as nutritious as cow milk. Both products are far less expensive than their counterparts supplied by animals and can be stored on the shelf without refrigeration indefinitely.”

Mr. Convisser gave the assurance that the company will produce enough for the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP).

“Meals produced from soya beans satisfy one-third of the child’s daily requirement of protein for less than one Ghana cedi. This will help the children of Ghana to grow big and have strong potential.”

He also disclosed the company’s far-advanced plan to establish a tractor assembling and manufacturing plant in Yendi.

“We will manufacture the spare parts of our Oggun Farm Tractors and sell them for half the price of the typical imported farm tractors of comparable horsepower,” he said.

He added that, “With the availability of the seed cake leftover from the Jatropha plant, POP Diesel would generate 2 megawatts of electricity to power its food processing and industrial activities at its site 24 hours per day for a whole week, thereby increasing both jobs and profits to be shared with farmers.”

The Northern Regional Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Abu Iddrisu lauded the initiative and rated their approach as better than the approaches of other companies with similar intentions.

He encouraged the company’s management to engage at least 40% of smallholder female farmers to improve their earnings.

Mr. Iddrisu cautioned that the EPA will not hesitate to sanction the company’s management in case of any breach of the legal framework.

“We will be on the lookout to ensure that POP Diesel Africa Limited follows the right procedures in its business and failure to adhere to any regulation or law would bring them the exact punishment as spelt out by the laws of Ghana.”

Jatropha is a tropical plant which can be grown domestically or in the wild in regions such as Africa, Asia and Latin America.

It is a small tree or shrub with smooth gray bark which exudes a whitish, watery-latex when cut.

Normally, this plant grows between three and five metres high, but can attain a height of up to eight or ten metres under favourable climatic conditions.

The Jatropha plant handles dryness very well including the ability to survive almost entirely off humidity in the air. Differences in yield depend on available rainfall or water. It lives and produces seeds for 50 years with minimal input.

Medicinally, Jatropha is used to treat “mouth-gonorrhoea” (bad mouth odour). The branch or stem is chewed to enable the water in it go through the gums and in between the teeth to thoroughly clean and kill any dirt or bacteria.

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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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