Farmers trained in moringa soap making

Business News of Monday, 1 April 2013

Source: GNA

Moringa1

A group of farmers, mainly women, at Samsam-Odumase in the Ga West District in the Greater Accra Region have been trained in moringa soap and cream making.

The two-day programme which was sponsored by Trees for the Future and World of Hope International, non-governmental organisations in collaboration with Kumasi Institute of Tropical Agriculture (KITA) was to empower women with alternative income generating ventures.

Mr George Akomeah Ansah, Technical Assistant of Trees for the Future who facilitated the workshop, took the participants through moringa leaves harvesting, drying and treatment in preparing the soap and cream.

They were also lectured on the moringa nutrition and medicinal benefits. Mr Lovans Owusu-Takyi, Director for Trees for the Future, in an interview told GNA, the NGO is committed to improving the livelihood of the youth in farming.

He said the Trees for the Future has also provided farmers with fast growing multi-purpose trees that would improve the environment and restore the degraded lands and also served as income generating opportunities.

Mr Owusu-Takyi asked farmers to integrate moringa plants and other trees like leuceana, cassia semea and fruit trees into their farms through alley cropping, boundary planting or forest garden models that would help improve soil fertility to enhance environmental conservation.

He advised them to use the moringa leaves to feed their animals to enhance their growth.

Mr Owusu-Takyi, who is also a lecturer at KITA, assured farmers that the NGO would continue to support them in their farming and income generating activities.