Every market day, Ernest Yirsob Yuori and his friends looked forward to one thing after arriving in town—a plate of hot sense or koose (fried bean snack) served with fresh vegetables.
But one day, something changed.
The friend who supplied the vegetables had stopped bringing cabbages to the market.
“We asked him why,” Yuori recalled during an interview with Kumasimail’s Northern Regional Editor Joseph Ziem. “He told us worms had infested his cabbage farm.”
The farmer had tried several pesticides sold on the market, but nothing seemed to work.
“He even told us suppliers in Accra had advised him to mix different chemicals before they became effective,” Yuori said.
For Yuori, who works in the health sector, the conversation was troubling for another reason.
“I already knew the health risks associated with excessive use of these chemicals,” he explained. “So we decided to find out whether we could develop something that would be safer for consumers while still being affordable for farmers.”
That conversation marked the beginning of what would eventually become CitraBloomm Pest Care, a young agritech company based in Lawra in the Upper West Region that is developing plant-based biopesticides using locally available materials.
Although his professional background is in healthcare, agriculture has always been close to home.
“Most of us grew up in farming communities, so we witnessed these pest problems firsthand,” he said.
Turning Research into Reality
Rather than accepting farmers’ struggles as inevitable, Yuori and his two friends decided to investigate why conventional pesticides were failing.
“Our research showed that many of these pests had become resistant to the chemicals already on the market,” he told Kumasimail.
Instead of developing another synthetic pesticide, the team turned to nature.
“We opted for neem because it is abundant here, together with orange peels and aloe vera.”
The three young innovators spent months researching and refining their idea before entering the Cosmos Innovation Centre Agritech Challenge.
The competition proved to be a turning point.
“We secured US$2,000, which we used to establish the business and bring our idea to life.”
The team officially began the project in May 2024, and by May 2025, they had launched their first commercial product — CN Plus Biopesticide.
Later that year, they received an additional GH¢15,000 grant from Action Through Enterprise (ATE), a Lawra-based non-governmental organisation supporting entrepreneurship.
Yuori also represented the company at the Global Entrepreneurship Festival, held at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra in November 2025.
More Than Just a Business
Yuori serves as Chief Executive Officer of CitraBloomm alongside co-founders Ludgard Doozie, the company’s Marketing Lead, and Zaagbeb Fidelis, who oversees Production and Operations.
For the team, however, success is measured by more than sales.
Their flagship product, CN Plus Biopesticide, is produced from orange peels, neem seeds and aloe vera, transforming agricultural waste into an environmentally friendly solution for crop protection.
“We’re not just producing pesticides,” Yuori said. “We’re helping rewrite the stories of smallholder farmers.”
The product has so far been tested mainly on vegetable crops and has also demonstrated effectiveness against fall armyworms, one of the most destructive pests affecting maize production in Northern Ghana.
According to Yuori, the response from farmers has been encouraging.
“Most of our first customers were farmers who had tested the product with us during the dry season before buying it for use in the rainy season,” he said. “That alone tells you they were satisfied with the results.”
Creating Opportunities Beyond Farming
One of the less visible impacts of CitraBloomm’s work lies in the communities that supply its raw materials.
Through its partnership with Action Through Enterprise (ATE), the company purchases neem seeds collected by mothers of children living with disabilities.
Because many of these women are unable to take up full-time employment due to caregiving responsibilities, collecting neem seeds provides them with an additional source of income.
“We engage them through the NGO and pay them according to the kilograms of seeds they collect,” Yuori explained.
The company’s supply chain also benefits women traders in Wa.
Market women collect and dry discarded orange peels, which CitraBloomm purchases for production.
“What many people consider waste becomes a source of income for someone else,” Yuori said.
The company has also established a small aloe vera plantation and hopes to encourage farmers to cultivate aloe vera commercially in the future.
“As we expand, we want farmers to grow aloe vera, and we’ll buy it from them,” he said. “That will create another income stream for farming households.”
The Challenge of Growing
Despite the encouraging response from farmers, CitraBloomm faces one major obstacle.
The company is still working towards obtaining Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) certification.
Yuori explained that although the company has already obtained the application forms, one of the requirements is an approved production facility.
To address this, the team has applied to use an abandoned government building through the Lawra Municipal Department of Agriculture.
“We’ve submitted our application and we’re hopeful,” he said.
Certification, however, comes at a significant cost.
“We’ve been asked to pay about GH¢11,000 just for certification,” Yuori revealed. “For a startup, that’s a huge amount.”
Without certification, many agricultural input dealers are reluctant to stock the product for fear of regulatory sanctions.
“Some investors also hesitate because they want assurance that all certifications are in place.”
To overcome these challenges, the company continues to market directly to farmers through demonstrations while pursuing regulatory approval.
It is also participating in the Coalition for Positive Impact’s Igniting Dreams Programme, where it hopes to secure funding to accelerate its growth.
A Call for Startup-friendly Policies
Asked what message he would deliver to President John Dramani Mahama, the Minister for Food and Agriculture, or other policymakers, Yuori said his appeal extends beyond CitraBloomm.
“My message is for all young entrepreneurs,” he said.
He believes bureaucracy and the high cost of certification discourage many innovative startups before they have the opportunity to grow.
“I know colleagues who abandoned their businesses because of these challenges,” he said.
Yuori suggested that government establish dedicated startup support desks within regulatory institutions to help innovative young businesses navigate certification and compliance more efficiently.
“Startups should have officers dedicated to working with them instead of competing for attention with long-established companies,” he said.
Looking Ahead
Although still in its early stages, CitraBloomm is already demonstrating how local innovation can address local problems while creating economic opportunities along the way.
From a conversation about a cabbage farmer’s empty harvest to a business that supports vulnerable women, creates value from agricultural waste and offers farmers a safer way to protect their crops, CitraBloomm’s journey reflects what can happen when young people choose to solve problems instead of accepting them.
“We’re looking for partnerships, mentorship and support to scale,” Yuori told Kumasimail. “If the right opportunity comes, we’re ready to grow.”
For the young man from Nakore, the mission is simple: help farmers harvest more, protect consumers, safeguard the environment and prove that world-class innovation can emerge from Northern Ghana.
Source: www.kumasimail.com
