The Crops
Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
(CSIR) is liaising with the government to identify some agricultural
commodities that can be adopted under the One-District-One-Factory policy initiative.
The policy
implementation creates an environment for each local government area to harness
its endowed resources to establish industries that provide jobs and create
wealth.
Director of the
CRI-CSIR, Dr. Stella Ennin, has pointed to the potentials in cassava as an
immediate crop that can exploited under the initiative.
“One of the
crops that is tops is cassava starch production, and we have varieties that
have high starch content of about 34 percent on weight basis and also resistant
to the major diseases of cassava which we are working with the government to
make available for the one-district-one-factory policy,” she said.
Research activities
from public institutions have resulted in the release of high yielding cassava varieties
to raise production levels.
Ghana
produces about 16million metric tonnes of cassava and incomes from production
and post-harvest processing of the commodity represent about 20 percent of the
country’s GDP.
Industrialization
of cassava will therefore increase opportunities along the value chain. Both domestic
and export markets will tap into value-added products such as ethanol from
cassava, starch for the pharmaceutical industry, high quality cassava flour and
starch for breweries, and composite flour for the bakery and confessionary
industries.
Dr. Ennin
says participating in the government’s One-District-One-Factory as well as the Planting
for Food and Jobs programmes is to push for the commercialization and
dissemination of agricultural research products.
The CRI has
released new varieties of rice and sweet potato to support the planting for
food and jobs programme.
The researchers
also supply seed growers with varieties of maize, soyabean and pepper to be
able to produce and supply farmers with certified seeds.
Dr. Ennin believes
crops like sweet potato and caning bean have the potential to increase incomes
of farmers whilst addressing the nutritional and hidden hunger issues in Ghana.
Sweet potato
farmers, for instance, can get a good yield of about 30tonnes per hectare within
four months and farmers can plant twice a year. Other benefits include use of
the vine for animal feed, planting material and soil improvement.
“We believe that
production will double by adhering to the production practices that go with
them,” she said.
The Crops Research
Institute is among research facilities under the CSIR, the foremost national science
and technology institution in Ghana. The CRI has a broad research mandate
covering all food and industrial crops.
By Kofi Adu
Domfeh
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