Farmers
in Ghana would soon access new varieties of rice and sorghum from Mali and
Senegal respectively to boost local production, under the West African
Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP).
Breeders
at the Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) of the Council for
Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) are adapting the varieties, which are
expected to be released to farmers later this year.
Under
the WAAPP, countries specialize in developing crops of comparative advantage
for adoption by other countries. New technologies are put in a common basket for
accessibility, in a bid to enhance integration and collaboration of
agricultural research activities in the sub-region.
In
Ghana, priority crops under the first phase of the ten-year project focused on
root and tubers – mainly yam, cocoyam, sweet potato and cassava.
Communications
officer for WAAPP-Ghana, Emmanuel Alorigiya, tells Luv Fm the second phase,
which took off last February, has been expanded to cover grains, cereals and
livestock.
Communication
specialists under the Programme are undergoing training on management of
agricultural communication in Kumasi. The workshop is to empower the officers
in disseminating information on agricultural technologies to farmers,
processors and marketers.
WAAPP
is a sub-regional programme supported by the World Bank and implemented by the
Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and CSIR.
The
objective of the programme is to generate and disseminate improved technologies
in the West Africa region and achieve 25 percent increase in the productivity
of the main agricultural sectors of the participating countries.
Ghana
National Project Coordinator, Mrs Azara Ali-Mamshie, is enthused at the
programme success in the release of crop varieties to increase crop yields.
Cassava
production, she stated, has increased from 12,000 tonnes per hectare to 35,000
tonnes per hectare in the beneficiary countries.
Low
levels of technology adoption arising out of the lack of information and
communication has been identified as a major challenge facing agricultural productivity
in West Africa.
Story
by Kofi Adu Domfeh
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