Citronella farmers in Western Regions calls for support

Mr. John Donkor,, a Citronella Farmer

Distillers of citronella oil in the western region have called on the government and private institutions to invest in citronella farming for the domestic and export markets. 

The farmers say there's high demand for citronella oil yet due to low productivity, they cannot meet the demand. 

Citronella oil is predominately used for soap making, insect repellent, antiseptic, disinfectant, and aromatherapy. It could also be used by surgical doctors in place of surgical spirit. Citronella grass takes 4-6 months to harvest and about 5 hours to be distilled into oil.

John Donkor is a Citronella farmer and his farm is one of the few well established citronella farmer in Ghana. He called on Government and stakeholders to support farmers whose product are in high demand. 

"We are calling on Government to take this as a national because the citronella oil is high demand across the country. People from far and near to buy, but we lack the machines to produce them in high quantity." 

Citronella grass could also be used as manure for cultivation. "The decomposed citronella grass can also be used as manure to crop vegetables; we will need a machine to grind the decomposed grass it into powder form."