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Ominous clouds hang over the country�s on-going �Mango for Export� project as the Export Development & Investment Fund (EDIF) starves the three Northern Regions of needed financial support. Some aggrieved farmers have threatened to quit the project if the needed funds are not disbursed. The newly-appointed Board Chairman Prof Francis Duodu, who claims to have unearthed anomalies in the operations of the project, has already sent the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the EDIF, Agyabeng Antwi Agyei on forced leave and replaced him by a certain Pamela Cynthia Addo. The appointment has come under a barrage of criticism by observers since according to them it is anomalous because only the President has the authority to make such appointments. There is also a temporary freeze on disbursement to farmers, an order affecting mostly farmers from the Northern Regions after the first tranche for land clearing in the middle of March 2011. An aggrieved farmer from the North said, �An embargo has been placed on disbursement till the end of the investigation. We see the Board Chairman�s action as anti-North. Otherwise why is the action affecting only farmers from the Northern Regions?� The farmers, who have cleared the first hurdle of land clearing, are unable to proceed to the next stage of planting because it is almost too late to do so now. �Any attempt at planting at this time would result in losses of many plants,� one of the aggrieved farmers told CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE. The Board Chairman of the fund, Prof Duodu is on a damage control mission to the northern regions following muffled grumbling by the farmers that he is out to sabotage the mango project. The farmers are wondering why their counterparts in the Brong Ahafo region are benefitting from the facility. Mango farmers in the three Northern Regions are disappointed with how politicking has robbed them of facilities available at EDIF. Credible information CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE stumbled upon suggests that Mr. Agyabeng Antwi Agyei presented a concept paper on the cultivation and development of mango as an export crop to Vice President, John Dramani Mahama who fell for it. Areas identified for the project included parts of the Volta, Brong Ahafo and three Northern Regions. The originator of the concept, Mr Agyabeng Antwi Agyei upon the Vice President�s orders, was appointed the acting CEO of EDIF since June 2009. The project is contained in a five-year development plan under which some 20,000 acres of land has been cultivated since 2009. Last year 5,000 acres in the Northern parts of Volta and Brong Ahafo regions were put under cultivation. Envy set in and some people sought to oust the man who came up with the lofty idea but the man continued to hold on to his position. When in early 2011 Peter Iliyasu was removed as Board Chairman and Prof. Francis Duodu appointed the stage was set for a final attempt to remove the acting CEO. The newly-appointed Board Chairman is said to have complained about some anomalies in the mango project and without any interaction at all with the acting CEO ordered him to proceed on a forced leave. This was at a time when mango farmers were engaged in land preparation in time for the rains. While those in the Brong Ahafo region are done with their work, their counterparts in the three Northern Regions can only regret their predicament even as the Board Chairman seeks to assure them of government�s commitment to the mango project. Farmers in the three Northern Regions will suffer a setback which would affect dismally the whole mango for export project. Information reaching the paper suggests that at the Tamale meeting with aggrieved farmers, the hotheaded ones were not invited. The Board Chairman blamed the delay in releasing funds on administrative lapses, adding that since assuming office in March he has set out to address the problems. Professor Duodo, who was in the region to interact with section of aggrieved farmers that are losing interest in the entire project, promised to assist them to sustain the entire project. According to him, the delays were in their own interest so as to ensure that funding at various levels were not disrupted, rebutting claims that he was sabotaging the project. Farmers engaged by EDIF over two months have been grappling over funding and threatened to quit, claiming managers of the programme were indifferent to their plight. A number of them claimed they invested huge sums of their personal money to execute the projects when funds from EDIF were not forthcoming. It was against this background that they accused managers of the programme of worsening their plight by failing to facilitate the speedy release of funds. Other farmers, in an interaction with City & Business Guide, said they had lost interest in the entire project, warning that they will quit if funds and seedlings were not made available for them to continue. Tamaiko Nursery, a private Nursery purported to have been contracted to produce seedlings told the paper that about 960,000 of seedlings were ready for collection but things seem to be going at a slow pace. Alhaji Ayarna of Dolan Ayarna Farms, under the Mango Plantation Programme, told the paper that he had cleared about 476 acres of land for the project but used 180 for the cultivation of maize since funding was not coming. He expressed worry over the delays and urged management to speed up the process since the rainy season was gradually trickling away, warning of dire consequence for the plants should they be planted late. Meanwhile, government is reported to have invested over GHc 11.7 million in the entire project and the mangoes will be exported after the mandatory gestation period of five years. The entire project was expected to cultivate mango seedlings in 5,000 acres of land with 3,000 coming from the three northern regions but speculations are ripe that the delay in the release of funds may impede the process.