The Sunyani Greenfield Cooperative Mango Producers and Marketing Society Ghana Limited has appealed to the government to assist in establishing a mango processing factory in the region under the One District, One Factory (1D1F) programme.

According to the Society, there was a direct need for the establishment of such a factory because of the commodity’s abundance in the region and to end the annual challenge of waste because of the high quantity of rot and the attendant monetary loss experienced by producers.

Dr Mrs Vida Korang, the Society’s Secretary made the appeal when the Group presented 1,500 pieces of exotic mango fruits of an export value estimated at GhC2000.00 to the Sunyani Central Prisons in support of the Prison Management’s effort to provide nutritious diets to the inmates.

“The Society is concerned about the nutritional challenges of the inmates and therefore took the initiative to support and improve their health status to prevent the outbreak of infectious diseases among them,” she said.

Dr Korang added the donation was also the Society’s corporate social responsibility forming part of its participation in the National Mango Week celebration taking place in Accra from Monday, July 4 to Friday, July 8 on the theme “Mango Green Gold-Beyond Value Addition: Market Diversification and Market Development”.

She stressed the need for the regular consumption of fresh mango to improve and maintain a quality state of health, citing that eating mango a day protected one from getting diabetes, heart, and other chronic diseases.

Dr Korang said “mango is the number one fruit that has the highest nutritional value among all the fruits in the world” and stressed that “it has low calories, boosts the immune system and improves the digestive system.”

Assistant Director of Prisons (ADP) Mr Samuel Fiifi Dontoh, the Bono Regional Commander of the Ghana Prisons Service thanked the Group for the donation and appealed to philanthropists, corporate and charitable organisations to emulate “such a notable example”