The Department of Agriculture, Upper East Region, has introduced 50 farmers, District Directors of Agriculture, Extension Agents, Crop Officers from 10 districts of the region to improve farming technologies.
These technologies are promoted by the Manga-based station of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Savannah Agriculture Research Institute (CSIR-SARI).
The field visits seek to expose the farmers and the agriculture officers to the technologies being promoted by the research station to improve food security in the region.
The farmers and the agric officers were introduced to a demonstration site of 5 varieties of improved Frafra Potato at Kongo in the Nabdam district.
Improved and high-yielding cereals, legumes, and root crops such as sorghum, cowpea, Bambara beans that have been generated and researched by the CSIR-SARI were also introduced to the farmers and the agric officers at Manga in the Binduri District.
The Upper East Regional Crop Officer with the Department of Agriculture, Joshua Diedong who led the field-day demonstration said the purpose of the visit is to link research and extension to improve food security.
Due to the lack of fertile farmlands coupled with drought, pests, and diseases that farmers experience almost every year, Mr. Diedong said the improved crops when adopted by farmers could stand the test of time.
“The Frafra potato is such that even if you plant it on marginal land that has loose its fertility, it can survive the condition. The income that you will generate from such a plot, compared with if you were using that same plot to cultivate crops such as maize will be far different. Because, for maize, you need to apply a lot of fertilizer on such land. One of the varieties that the research station is promoting is sorghum. There is a high demand for sorghum from Faranaya to supply Guinness Ghana but in the region, we are not able to meet the demand.”
The regional Crop Officer entreated the farmers and the agriculture offices to make good use of the available market opportunity and “tap into the technologies by the research station and produce to meet the demand”.
The CSIR-SARI Manga station generates and disseminates agricultural technologies for smallholder farmers in Northern Ghana. Among the improved varieties, the research station has released to farmers include two cowpeas known as ‘Wang Kae’ and ‘Kirkhouse Benga’.
In 2019, improved groundnut varieties, SARINUT 1 and SARINUT 2 were developed by CSIR-SARI Manga station and its partners to improve food yields. Other best farming practices such as the efficient application of fertilizer to improve farm yields have been introduced to farmers.
In order to attract the youth into farming, the Drip Irrigation System was made known to farmers in the Upper East Region to improve food production.
Senior Research Scientist and Officer In-charge of the Manga agric research station, Dr. Julius Yirzagla said the improved seeds of crops have high yielding, tolerant to drought, pest, and diseases, when adopted by farmers, could meet food security in the country.
“We do all these things in collaboration with the farmers and we disseminate it to them during fora and encourage them to adopt the technologies. By adopting these technologies, farmers have the opportunity to improve upon their crop production in order that they can attain food security and household income”, he said.
Some of the enlightened farmers promised to practice the knowledge gained to improve their farming business.
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1Mhz|Joshua Asaah| Ghana
