The farm is the classroom where the farmers and
research scientists get themselves busy with the soil to learn how to better
produce yam for higher income and reduction in drudgery.
At the end of eight months in field activities –
planting and assessment of vegetative stage, an examination is undertaken by
way of harvest and evaluation of the differences in crop yields between an
introduced improved technology and the farmers’ practice.
Sumaila Rufai, a 32 year-old father of four, is
enthused at the new knowledge of generating multiple planting materials of seed
yam.
“We have been very wasteful with the use of seed yams,”
he observed. “For instance, instead of planting a seed on one mound, now I know
I can do that on 4-5 mounds”.
This and other best agronomic practices are off-shoots
of the technology introduced to the farmers.
The participatory approach is the best to encourage
farmers to adopt new agricultural technologies, according to research
scientists from the Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for
Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
The introduction of the “Improved Agronomic
Technologies for Sustainable Yam Production” involves the use of mechanized
ridges and minimum staking per unit area, dubbed “trellis”, as well as
fertilizer application on continuously cropped fields.
“…and you can see the yield as we weigh is about
35-50percent increase on the ridges as compared to the farmers’ practice and
you can see the sprout rate was better on the ridges as compared to the mounds,”
noted Eric Owusu Danquah, a Yam Agronomist leading the project.
The Project is under the West Africa Agriculture
Productivity Programme (WAAPP), funded by the World Bank. Trials are taking
place on selected farmers’ fields within Ejuraand Atebubu-Amantin yam producing
agro-ecological zones of Ghana. .
The five-year project ends in 2017 and already the
technology developers are satisfied with the rate of adoption.
Hannah Adade is a 65-year old mother of seven. She has
been supporting her husband in yam production for over 40 years, long enough to
appreciate the benefits of the improved production technology.
“We have more yield now growing yam on ridges than with
mounds,” she said. “I encourage other farmers to come on board to also
benefit”.
The use of the mechanized ridges reduces drudgery,
which encourages women like Madam Hannah to venture into yam production for
improved livelihoods.
Yam is a major food crop and Ghana is a lead exporter
of the commodity.
Generally, yam produced with mounds give larger tubers
but it is difficult to meet the export market requirements. Ridges however give sizable weight for export
and also help in preservation.
The researchers are collaborating with the Ministry of
Food and Agriculture to fabricate and make available Mechanized Ridgers at
vantage points to ease farmers’ access to go into production.
At Nyomoase, the farmers and researchers took the risk
of planting the yam in drought, as the rains failed to pour in June and July,
2015.
“Even planting in drought you can see that the yields are
still better,” said Mr. Owusu Danquah after harvesting the yam in December,
touting the climate-reliance of the technology.
Farmers, traditionally, are inclined to clear new
fields for yam production, in which process they contribute to deforestation
and depletion of carbon sinks that eventually leads to climate change.
“We are encouraging farmers to plant on continuously
cropped fields and that means they’ll not open up new areas, so at least we
have our carbon sinks intact; and this is a technology which uses ropes and few
stakes, so the farmers do not have to fell trees for staking. So this is
climate resilient,” Mr. Owusu Danquah said.
Ghanaian farmers, like many others in Sub-sahara Africa,
rely heavily on the rains to produce food.
The poor downpour in 2015 severely affected food
production in Ghana, a situation that threatens food security in 2016.
Felix Frimpong, a research scientist focused on climate
resilient crop production, says the adoption of climate smart agricultural
practices is the way to go for Ghanaian farmers.
“We need to support the farmers with fertilizer subsidies,
resilient crop varieties and farming technologies, increased diversification of
agriculture systems, promotion of simple irrigation facilities, we need to also
train them and advocate that the old ways of farming need to change to ensure
increased productivity and climate resilient,” he stated.
Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh
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