The Ghana Veg Program under the International Fertilizer Development Centre is partnering the Ghana Institute of Horticulturalists to proffer solutions to challenges facing the country’s horticulture industry.

The use of rudimentary farming tools and poor quality of seedlings are some of the challenges militating against vegetable production.

Under the partnership, the Ghana Veg program will offer financial support to researchers to facilitate their activities in the field.

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) has also introduced the green label certificate which will ensure the production of good vegetables by using best farming practices.

Program Manager at Ghana Veg, Joep van den Broek, says the support is based on nutritional value and food security benefits of vegetables.

“Vegetables are key in micro-nutrients like Vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium and all kinds of vitamins and minerals that are important in combating malnutrition… with a small plot of 6cm by 6cm, a family’s vegetable needs can be secured,” he told the 15^th Annual General Meeting of the Ghana Institute of Horticulturalists in Kumasi.

This year’s general meeting is on the theme: “Promoting Food Security in a Sustainable Environment.

The Ghana Veg program, in its bid to ensure the production of quality vegetables, is collaborating with agronomists from Wageningen University in the Netherlands to tackle issues such as production and post-harvest management of vegetables.

Meanwhile, Former Director of the Crops Research Institute, Dr. Hans Adu Dapaah believes the country has more to do in addressing challenges of food security.

“It is not only about production but how we are able to and process what we have produced; it is about how we are able to link up, there might be places where there are no food and others having food that are getting rotten … we all have a role to play in ensuring food security”, he bemoaned.

Dr. Dapaah expects the Ghana Institute of Horticulturalists to issue a communiqué to highlight areas where the nation should give much attention in the Horticulture industry.