Plus One Investment Limited, a subsidiary of the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority, has begun the export of butternut squash, one of the major crops of dry season farming introduced by SADA in the three Northern Regions.
The GH�2.7 million SADA dry season farming project was introduced by the authority as part of measures to improve the living standards of the people in the three Northern Regions by engaging hundreds of the people in the various processes of the value chain.
The project was also expected to facilitate the growth of vegetables such as sweet potatoes, pepper and carrots to help improve the nutrition of the people, with 70% of the produce to be exported to European markets.
So far, nine 40-feet containers of butternut squash have been harvested and processed for export to Birmingham, United Kingdom, from the project farms at Yapie, Buipe, Tamalgu and Dinga in the Northern Region and Bibeturi and Mettor in the Upper West Region.
The weekly selective harvesting from the fields is expected to yield a total of 30 40-feet containers, Mr Dan Ahmed Saaka, its programmes co-ordinator, has revealed.
Butternut squash (cucurbita moschata), also known in Australia and New Zealand as butternut pumpkin, is a type of winter squash with a sweet and nutty taste similar to that of a pumpkin. It has yellow skin and orange fleshy pulp.
When ripe, the squash turns increasingly deep orange and becomes sweeter and richer growing on a vine.
It is a good source of fibre, manganese, magnesium and potassium and also an excellent source of Vitamin A, C and E, and contains other important nutrients such as proteins and amino acids, carbohydrates, fats and fatty acids.
The programmes co-ordinator of Plus One Investment Limited, Mr Dan Ahmed Saaka, who briefed The Finder about the progress of the project last week, said all targets concerning the project are on course.
Mr Dan Saaka said over 200 rural farmers have been directly employed in the various stages of production such as sowing, harvesting, handling and packaging while the services of more than one thousand have also been engaged indirectly.
�Most of the workers on site are rural women who had previously travelled to the south to engage in head porterage or Kayaye. We have provided accommodation for these women, including guaranteed salaries, while many of them have also been encouraged to own their farms,� Mr Dan Saaka said.
According to the programmes co-ordinator, the women have also been provided with three square meals and also duly registered under the National Health Insurance Authority.
Mr Dan Saaka also said the project would be expanded to cover other communities in the region to enable more rural people benefit from it.
He also said the organisation would embark on �feed the sick project� this month at the Tamale Teaching Hospital, which would be replicated at other health centres in the region as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR).
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