The Nabdam District Director of the Department of Agriculture, Rasheed Imoro, has called on Non-Governmental Organizations,(NGOs), philanthropists, and well-meaning individuals to invest in agriculture in the Nabdam District of the Upper East Region.
According to him, the District, with its agriculture-friendly vast land, has the potential to cultivate soya beans, maize, and sorghum, among other crops, to contribute greatly to the country`s food basket and ensure food security, given the needed support.
He noted that the land was fertile, but the continuous use of traditional seeds and outmoded farming methods has denied farmers good yields over the years.
This, he recounted, then makes it important for their capacities to be built.
Mr Imoro was speaking to farmers at Sakoti about the Sustainable Soyabean Production in Northern Ghana (SSPiNG) Project being implemented by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in partnership with Yara Ghana and Excellence in Agronomy.
Using demonstration farms, the farmers were taken through maize-soya intercropping which showcased how both the maize crop and the soyabeans were beneficial to each other in boosting yield.
The project is aimed at building the capacities of farmers to enable them to adopt the strategy of intercropping by ensuring proper site selection, adequate land preparation, ploughing, selection of certified seeds and using sowing techniques, among others.
It also offered farmers the opportunity to learn about the handling, storage, and application of inoculant and yara fertilizer to increase soyabean grain and maize yield.
Sakoran Zanbok Kom, the Tidan (land owner) of the Sakoti Traditional Area, said he was inspired by the innovation and appealed for the continuation of the project to build the capacity of farmars.
“I am particularly enthused by this innovation; if I was told that there will be a land that can make these great yields in Sakoti here, I would have doubted because the same land that maize was cropping a single one is now cropping two, some three, and even bigger than our own”. He stated
“It is my appeal that this project continues to build the capacities of farmers to ensure food security and empower farmers financially”. He added
Mr. Tenga George, a farmer, thanked the project implementers and sponsors, adding it was an eye-opener and, when continued, would be very beneficial to farmers in the Nabdam District.
A total of eight communities, including Sakoti, Nangodi, and Zanlerig-Gane, among others, benefited from the project.
Source:A1radioonline.Com|101.1MHz|Gilbert Azeem Tiroog
