TCDA to adopt Upper West’s MATCO mango farm as northern prototype, issues warning against felling shea trees

The Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA) has announced plans to adopt the MATCO Mango Plantation in the Upper West Region as its model farm for the northern sector to spearhead commercial mango cultivation, train young people and women, and accelerate agricultural industrialisation.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Authority, Dr Andy Osei Okrah, disclosed this during a working tour of the region, which included an official call on the Upper West Regional Minister at the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) in Wa and a detailed assessment of the 50-acre MATCO Mango Plantation.

Dr Okrah noted that while southern and eastern belts such as Somanya had traditionally dominated the commercial mango sector, the Upper West Region possessed immense soil and agronomic potential to drive Ghana’s economic transformation through tree crops.

Out of the six priority crops mandated under the TCDA Act (Act 1010 of 2019), popularly grouped as ‘C-CORMS’ (Cashew, Coconut, Oil Palm, Rubber, Mango and Shea), three key crops, namely cashew, shea and mango, thrive naturally in the Upper West Region.

“We want to use this plantation in the northern sector as a prototype and as a model,” Dr Okrah stated during the plantation tour. “We want to see whatever we can do to ensure the plantation thrives so we can upscale it to other regions. Our vision is to enable more young people and women to get into commercial tree crop farming, tap into this experience, and ensure their efforts yield wealth.”

Addressing youth unemployment, Dr Okrah challenged university graduates and young people to venture into commercial agriculture rather than wait for white-collar appointments.

“Young people think farming is just entering the bush. When you apply technology, you will see the profit and won’t want to go anywhere else,” he said. “Land is available in the Upper West. Just come, be patient, start even with two acres of mango or cashew, and the Authority will ensure the marketing linkages so your produce never goes to waste.”

The owner of MATCO Mango Plantation, Mr Matthew Song-Aabo, shared the trajectory of the commercial farm, explaining that land preparation began in 2006, followed by planting in 2007. The plantation now has approximately 5,600 mango trees.

Mr Song-Aabo highlighted his investments in water infrastructure, saying he had drilled four boreholes and installed a 40,000-litre gravity-fed overhead drip irrigation system, alongside 70 standpipes.

He, however, lamented that capital constraints had limited irrigation coverage to 60 per cent of the farm, resulting in annual output stagnating at around 60 tonnes.

“Irrigation infrastructure is highly capital-intensive,” Mr Song-Aabo explained. “Because we cannot cover the entire farm with irrigation and have had to battle diseases like Bacterial Black Spot (BBS) and anthracnose, we are hovering around 60 tonnes a year. The national target is up to 12 tonnes per acre. With technical and investor support through the Authority, we can lift our yields, expand jobs, and generate revenue for mother Ghana.”

In response, Dr Okrah pledged that the TCDA Board’s Mango Value Chain Committee would provide input support and technical guidance and connect northern growers directly to high-capacity domestic and international off-takers.

He stressed that government policy firmly prioritised local processing and value addition to permanently curb post-harvest losses.

Earlier, at the Regional Coordinating Council, Dr Okrah issued a stern warning against the illegal felling, burning and poisoning of economic shea trees across the region, likening the practice to armed robbery.

He emphasised that under the Tree Crops Regulations (L.I. 2471), destroying economic tree crops was a serious criminal offence punishable by a minimum prison sentence of five years.

“In the Upper West, people are fond of cutting down and burning shea trees. This is forbidden and carries not less than five years imprisonment. We are carrying out public education, but recalcitrant offenders apprehended by the law will face the full rigors of the court,” Dr Okrah cautioned.

Dr Okrah also announced that the Authority had secured office space in Wa in collaboration with the Regional Coordinating Council and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA).

He said the office was undergoing refurbishment and would be officially commissioned in two weeks to fully decentralise the TCDA’s regulatory and developmental operations in the Upper West Region.