The President of the Millar Institute for Transdisciplinary and Development Studies (MITDS), Professor David Millar, has said that the Planting for Food and Jobs and the One Village, One Dam policies need to be reviewed to address farmers concerns and boost food production.
According to him, the two policies of the government need to be reviewed within the context of variability and other isolated incidents to address real problems affecting farmers in order to expand the food basket of the country.
He noted that the absence of rain in the Upper East Region in particular at a time when it was needed was having an adverse effect on crops, and the success of these policies would have served as an alternative to supporting farmers in their irrigational activities.
He made these assertions when he spoke to Gerard A. Asagi on A1 Radio’s Daybreak Upper show regarding the role of stakeholders in strengthening the Agricultural Sector in the region.
The Professor emphasized that the inadequate rainfall currently experienced in the region could not be said to be due to climate change but to variability, as there was uninterrupted rainfall in neighboring Northern Regions.
He explained that “when climate is really changing, it is widespread, but it does not isolate an island and avoid it and do the rest for the others, as in the case of the Upper East Region”.
He noted that climate change occurs over time, while variability may result from natural internal processes within the climate system.
The Upper East Regional Director of Agriculture, Alhaji Zachariah Fuseini, has expressed worry over the poor rain-fall pattern in the region, giving rise to fall armyworms and contributing to poor crop growth.
He said the absence of rain in the region was creating a conducive atmosphere for armyworm infestation in the districts it had invaded, but there was no cause to worry as officers were on the ground to offer the needed assistance to farmers to battle the pest.
The Director noted that heavy rains would have flooded the armyworms from the leaves of crops and made it highly impossible for them to lay eggs and hatch, but in the absence of rains, coupled with the devastation of fall armyworms, this was having an adverse effect on crops.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Gilbert Azeem Tiroog|Ghana
