Mango farmers are concerned about poor sales and losses to due to lack of value addition and inadequate marketing of mangoes. According to MUCG researchers, farmers indicated at their annual meeting that mango losses represent about 30 percent of the total produce. Spoilage translates to lost income opportunities for farmers already struggling to provide for themselves and their families on a daily basis.

The aim of the project is to train 130 farmers in the development of different agricultural products from mango fruits into juice, milk shakes, yogurt, canned products and jam. It is anticipated that training of farmers in expanded utilization of mango fruits will create a new market niche. The value-added mango products will increase farmers’ profit margins and positively affect their family livelihood and that of their communities as a whole.

Students clarification: Sidrah Rafique, graduate student of the University of Florida, was initially selected as a Trellis Fund fellow to support this project and worked remotely with Methodist University College Ghana to do so — but she was unable to travel to support the project. To aid in completing this project, graduate student Nick Reitz of UC Davis traveled to Ghana to again work with partners at Methodist University College Ghana (after having partnered with them for a previous Trellis Fund project in 2017).