Climate-smart yam cropping system comes to the rescue of farmers

Ghanaian yam farmers are in constant search for soil fertility and staking for sustainable high yield production.

To help farmers overcome this challenge, research scientists are making progress in exploring solutions by introducing farmers to the Pigeon Pea–Yam Cropping System for improved yam productivity.

The new planting system, implemented by the Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and partners, has been identified as sustainable for yam production in the face of depleting soils and climate change.

“What we have to do is to ensure that farmers are able to use continuously cropped lands for yam, instead of searching for virgin lands which are non-existent,” said Dr. Stella Ennin, Director of CRI-CSIR.

Under the technology, the pigeon pea is used as allays with the yams planted in-between the ridges. The system also involves placing the pigeon pea at the border zone which are cut and used at stakes – the direct access to stakes saves the farmers from the labour, transportation and cost of buying stakes.

At the end of the three-year project in 2020, the researchers are hoping to come out with a technology that will be appreciated by farmers.  Already, the results of field trials look good.

Farmers in yam producing areas like Atebubu-Amantim, Ejura, Techiman and Kintampo in the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions have been involved in the new cropping system at an on-station trial field at Aframso in the Ejura-Sekyeredumase District of the Ashanti region.

Most of the farmlands are far from the communities as they shift cultivation in search of fertile lands.

Research scientist on the project, Eric Owusu Danquah, explains the technology addresses staking which is crucial in yam production. The pigeon pea conserves moisture and fixes atmospheric nitrogen. The leaves or biomass, which are cut and spread before land preparation, also add to the soil carbon and nutrient stock in sustaining soil fertility.

During an evaluation exercise on trial fields, the farmers chose the field planted with pigeon pea and the recommended 50percent fertilizer application. This option had better yield with low disease rate on the produce.

“We could see that the yams in the alley sprouted better than where we did not have the pigeon pea. It was more vigorous and grew faster right from the beginning. Phosphorous was made available to the soil and to the plant. We also realized that it was able to preserve moisture which was an advantage,” said Dr. Ennin.

The Pigeon Pea Yam Cropping System has been identified as viable in improved yam productivity.

The research will be expanded from Kumasi and Ejura to other yam producing areas, while production guides are prepared to spread information on the production technique.

Six new rice varieties released; breeders confident of self-sufficiency in production

Ghana has six new varieties of lowland rice, released by breeders at the Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
 

These new varieties perform well in both swampy and irrigated ecologies with a yield potential of 8–9.5 metric tonnes per hectare, which has about 2–18% yield advantage over the current varieties.

All six varieties are tolerant to the rice yellow mottle virus disease and iron toxicity as well as other environmental stresses, including unfavourable climatic conditions.

The research activities test for drought tolerance, salinity tolerance and many of the things that climate change brings in crop production.

“These are very good times for farmers,” says Dr. Maxwell Asante, a rice breeder and senior research scientist. “We are expecting that if farmers adopt these varieties, production levels will increase and with the seriousness government is attaching to agriculture now, with the Planting for Food and Jobs [programme] where they are giving them fertilizers, loans and other things, the full potentials of these varieties will be expressed on the field”.

Rice is a major food security crop in Ghana. The CSIR-CRI has over the years released eight varieties, whilst the Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (CSIR-SARI) has developed six rice varieties.  

The twenty varieties of domestic rice developed by the research institutions should give Ghanaian farmers the edge to increase production for national rice self-sufficiency.

But the country’s rice import bill keep rising, currently hovering close to $600million per annum.

Director of CSIR-CRI, Dr. Stella Ennin, is hoping for a shift in taste because the new domestic rice varieties are within the consumer-preferred perfumed class, which is driving the importation of the grain food.

The new Ghanaian grain type is similar to the conventional US long grains, such as Texas Star or Jasmine type of rice. Two of the lines also have starch pasting properties that make them suitable for processing into other products such as breakfast cereals and canned soup.

“We also have the production technology that goes with these crops to ensure that we are able to manage these crops within the environment to achieve their full potential,” she noted.

Ghanaian rice breeders say they are producing varieties that are comparable to the imported brands, but their efforts will only become fruitful when the rice value chain works without any break – from extension services to farming as a business and consumption patterns.

According to Dr. Asante, a sustained interest of government to support agricultural production, coupled with dedicated research activities will help reverse rice importation and drive self-sufficiency within the next five to ten years. 

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

Crop scientists in Ghana grow “seed yams in the air”

Seeds constitute about 25 percent of the cost of yam production in Ghana and other African countries.

Local farmers are denied the benefits of their harvests as, traditionally, they will save about 25 percent of their yam harvest for the next planting season.

Access to good quality planting materials is therefore a major limiting factor to the expansion of yam cultivation in Ghana, says Dr. Emmanuel Otoo, a Yam Breeder.

“Once you tackle and you are able to take away that limitation posed by the seed system, the sky is the limit,” he noted.

Ghana is the world's second-largest yam producer after Nigeria. However, yam production is declining in some traditional producing areas due to declining soil fertility, increasing pest pressures and the high cost of labor.

Researchers at the Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) want to shift from saved seed yams to growing seed yams in the air, using aeroponics technology.

“Normally people don’t plant yams with the vines, so we realized that we can do that and actually increase the multiplication ratio from 1 to 240 and now what we are doing is aeroponics, the first of its kind in the country; we’ve planted yam vines not in the soil, [but] hanging in the air, gave them nutrients and they’ve started bulking,” said Dr. Otoo, who heads of the Yam Programme at the CRI-CSIR.

According to him, one plant can yield about 1,000 seeds and “with this technology you can plug the yam seed like you are picking pepper”.

The Aeroponics System (AS) is the process of growing plants in an air or mist environment without the use of soil – the novelty is for rapid multiplication of clean seed yam tubers in large quantities by directly planting vine cuttings in AS boxes to produce mini-tubers in the air.

Some selected farmers have been engaged by the researchers to appreciate the system whilst having hands-on-training on yam seed propagation techniques.

One of such farmers is 56-year old Kwasi Benyado, from Atebubu, a predominantly yam producing community.

“There are times you run-out of yam seeds and you have to buy but with what we’ve learnt here, we can nurse our own seeds to save money,” he said.

The new system is being promoted to the farmers and commercial seed producers, who would have the benefit of generating “true-to-type” planting materials.

Research Scientist, Patricia Oteng Darko, is excited to be working on the project.

“Aeroponics doesn’t demand so much space…with an enclosed system like this you’re sure to eliminate the diseases and then you get a lot out of a small space,” she said.

The yam producers have also identified access to water as another challenge in production.

“Definitely it’s a matter of climate change; we know that the rains are not coming in time and they come in quantities that you don’t expect them to, so we are trying to develop materials that can tolerate such conditions,” said Dr. Otoo.

The yam seed developing systems is funded under the West African Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP) and also supported the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Listen to audio report...

https://soundcloud.com/kofi-adu-domfeh-1/crop-researchers-grow-yam-seeds-in-the-air

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh 

Poor land use exposes Ghana to possible food and water scarcity

Ghana’s food and water security is under threat as the country’s arable lands are lost to illegal mining activities as well as infrastructural expansion projects, especially residential and industrial estates.

According to Director of the Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), adequate measures must be put in place to address the challenge of land and water pollution.

She says the increasing human population demands that the country pursues the conservation of farm lands and water bodies to help boost crop production.

She however says the CSIR-CRI has the capacity to restore soil fertility to put destroyed farm lands into productive use.

Dr. Ennin spoke to LuvNews at a workshop on agricultural extension projects under the Korea-Africa Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (KAFACI).

KAFACI is an intergovernmental and multilateral corporation body aimed at improving food production, achieve sustainable agriculture and enhance extension services of African countries through knowledge and information sharing on agricultural technologies.

The event brought together agricultural personnel from selected African countries to share research findings to enhance extension services.

Dr. Ennin believes the project would help capacity building and improve upon extension offices as a guide against the shortage of food in the future.

GMO fears frustrate passage of Plant Breeders Bill in Ghana

For the past three years, Ghana’s scientific community has clamored for the passage of the Plant Breeders Right (PBR) Bill to protect their intellectual property rights.

The bill, which has been shelved after some parliamentary debate, will allow commercial end-users of research products to pay royalties to the scientists and their institutions.

Research scientists at the Crops Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), who have been pushing for the passage of the Bill, have stated that the PBR Law will be in the interest of farmers and the seed industry as it will be for scientists.

The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Mahama Ayariga, during a recent visit to the CRI, observed efforts to get the bill passed have been frustrated because there is an atmosphere of fear among parliamentarians and policy makers.

“There are many people who have spent so much time trying to misrepresent the real intention behind the Plant Breeders Bill and that has delayed the passage of the bill,” he said.

Some advocacy groups, including the Food Sovereignty Ghana and the Coalition for Farmers’ Right, have kicking against the bill in its current form.

They have argued the bill will pave way for importation of genetically modified foods into the country, as well as compromise farmers’ rights in accessing seedlings for planting.

“They are using fears around GMO – genetically modified organisms – to confuse the public and to frighten the public and to create a certain disaffection for the Plant Breeders Bill based on fears that people have around GMOs,” noted Mahama Ayariga.

The Minister therefore wants intensified advocacy for passage of the bill into law to enable local researchers benefit from the use of their products, especially in other countries.

He has also made a strong case for the country to advance its biotechnology capabilities to develop crop varieties of higher yield to address the food security issues.

“You may say that let’s put more fertilizer but the very people who are fighting GMO are the very people who are fighting too much chemicals into the system, because lives are in danger if we take too much chemicals…so clearly your only option is biotechnology which does not involve the use of chemicals,” said Mr. Ayariga.

 

The Food Sovereignty Ghana is in court to halt the introduction of GMOs into the country’s food chain.

Meanwhile, Cabinet has given approval for the biosafety regulations to be laid before parliament.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh 

Ghana's foremost agric research institute hit by high staff attrition

High staff attrition rate and inadequate funding are the immediate challenges confronting research activities at the Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

The Institute has lost about 160 workers to retirement and competition in the last four years.

“Poor conditions of service resulting in high staff attrition rate and also because of our inability to replace staff over the years, it has been a major constraint; we are losing some specialist areas and we are taking steps to ensure at least we have the minimum critical staff,” said Dr. Stella Ennin, Director of the CRI-CSIR.

The Institute has been at the forefront of developing crop varieties and technologies for Ghana to increase food production, increase income levels of farmers and promote high nutrition among the population.

Over the years, the Institute has developed over 100 crop varieties and technologies for farmers and industrialists.

According to Dr. Ennin, CRI technologies are not on the shelves because its research methodologies are participatory on farmer fields and on-station with cutting-edge science technology and innovation approaches.

“We do not sit here and decide on what to do; we go down there and get the views of farmers and other key players along the value chain to come up with the problems and issues that we research on and so our research is done on-station and we have seven stations scattered across the agro-ecologies of Southern Ghana,” she noted.

However, most of the research projects currently underway at the Institute are funded by donor agency, with a minimum contribution from the government of Ghana.

Dr. Ennin raised the concerns whilst highlighting the contributions of the Institute to national economic growth during a visit of the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI).

Mahama Ayariga, who is on a tour of some institutions in Kumasi under his ministry, charged the research community to stay at the forefront in solving major national problems to gain the necessary consideration in the allocation of national resources.

“The more the rest of the nation feels about your role, then the more they are willing to make sacrifices for you to play that critical role,” said Mr. Ayariga.

The Minister also stated that government has a “genuine problem with the size of our workforce and its impact on the national budget” but acknowledged research must receive priority.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh 

Sweet potato: a special food security crop for health and wealth

The story is told of Nalongo Sekiguce, a widow and mother of 16 children, who lives in a hillside village in the Mukono district, a two hour drive from Kampala, Uganda.

Nalongo grew sweetpotato along with other traditional crops like banana and cassava. When she heard about the nutritional superiority of the Orange Fleshed sweetpotato, she planted it to feed her family.

She received her vines and training on good agricultural practices from extension workers trained by International Potato Centre (CIP) – one lesson she learned was that of clean planting material and how the vines from her sweetpotatoes could be multiplied and sold to others.

Nalongo became so good at this that once her cell phone number was announced on a radio station, she was inundated with calls for her vines.

Today, she grows just enough sweetpotato to feed her family but focuses on multiplying and selling her vines to other farmers as her primary source of income.

Adiel Mbabu, CIP Regional Director for Sub-Saharan Africa, describes Nalongo as his hero because she is such a good farmer and business woman and also because she took a chance on a new crop that was good for her family’s health and well-being.

Mr. Mbabu is therefore challenging other Africans to be like Nalongo by taking a chance on Orange Fleshed Sweetpotato.

 

“You know in Nalongo’s village they sing a song about it that says ‘the orange sweetpotato is the healthy one. It’s good for the eyes and the body’. This is true and it’s a great way to tell others about this nutritious crop,” he noted.

The CIP Strategic and Corporate Plan for the next 10 years is to reach 15 million households by responding to the strong demand for biofortified orange fleshed sweetpotato, working with national partners to generate new, locally adapted and nutritious sweetpotatoes and by accelerating breeding and multiplication.

“We can soon claim to have reached a milestone in our history by reaching one million households in Africa with sweetpotato – preventing blindness and stunting in children along the way. This is part of a 10 year CIP program to scale up and out Resilient Nutritious Sweetpotato in Sub-Saharan Africa,” stated CIP Director General, Barbara Wells.

Promoting new varieties in Ghana

In Ghana, CIP has set a goal of reaching nearly 500,000 households with resilient nutritious sweetpotato by 2020.

Former UN Secretary-general, Kofi Annan and Wife, Nane Annan joined a round table discussion led by CIP and attended by a range of Ghanaian partners to discuss innovative ways to harness the power of orange-fleshed sweetpotato, which is rich in beta carotene, a precursor of Vitamin A that is critical to enhance children’s health and in reducing blindness. The crop is also rich in other nutrients and carbohydrates vital for children under the age of five and lactating women.

“The high Vitamin A content of sweetpotatoes is of high value to children and young infants, particularly in West Africa and in Ghana,” stated Mrs. Nane Annan. “Offering vocational training to mothers and youth and making use of marginal lands is a great model for the region.”

Ghanaian researchers have been deliberating on opportunities and strategies to enhance sweetpotato production along the value chain for health and wealth creation.

Dr. Stella Ennin, Director of the Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), describes sweetpotato as special food security crop in the face of climate change.

Her Institute has developed and released 12 high yielding sweet potato varieties, which yield 2-3 times higher than the traditional varieties.

The CRI-CSIR, as part of its vision, wants to establish a Sweetpotato Resource Centre “for stakeholder capacity building along the value chain”. This will serve to demonstrate best cropping and harvesting practices, provide technical backstopping to the private sector on commercial processing, raise the image of the crop and facilitate entrepreneurship in the sector.

CIP breeders will focus on developing a nutritious version of this sweetpotato to make it palatable to the Ghanaian taste buds and improve beta carotene intake.

“However, to get these scientific products in the hands of the smallholder farmers, it is critically important that we work closely with the partners who work closely with the target communities,” observed Adiel. 

He expects partners under the sweeetpotato value chain – from farm to folk – to work towards ensuring products and services generate health and wealth to the deserving communities in Ghana. 

This, he noted, “would be inspiring enough to turn it into another Nalongo story for Ghana”.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Researchers promote integrated food production system in Ghana

Ghanaian agricultural researchers are encouraging integrated farming as an economically and environmentally sound activity in food production and income generation.

The Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is implementing the Aquaponics-based Food System (AFS), which combines crop production with fish, poultry and small ruminant rearing.

The objective, according to research scientist and agricultural engineer, Shadrack Kwadwo Amponsah, is to ensure all year-round food production for enhanced nutrition to the smallholder farmer, whilst offering an attraction for the youth to venture agriculture.

“Imagine a farming having a small piece of land with all these food production systems integrated into one; I don’t think you will complain if you have no money on you because you have enough to eat,” he stated.

Mr. Amponsah explains the emerging venture of producing worms for composting, known as vermiculture. According to him, this is essential to produce organic crops in an integrated farm that helps to mitigate the changing climate.

The impacts of climate change are already being felt everywhere and in all economic sectors.

In countries like Ghana, where farmers rely heavily in rain-fed agriculture, local farmers are most vulnerable to the unpredictability of the weather.

Whilst developing economies seek climate justice to mitigate the effects of the changing climate on livelihoods, researchers are exploring adaptation mechanisms to make agriculture sustainable.

Mr. Amponsah believes diversification of production is highly productive and efficient in managing risks imposed by the environment and climate change.

The Institute’s project field is exposing the public to opportunities to earn sustainable livelihoods from integrated farming whilst contributing to environmental protection.

Director of the CRI-CSIR, Dr. Stella Ennin, believes the project is the way forward to achieving sustainable food security in Ghana.

“You can see how crop productivity is much higher when you have manure from this system put on the crops… so this is a system that we are looking at ways of improving and adapting to our system and I can say it’s wonderful,” she said.

The AFS project is sponsored by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Cooperation (EMBRAPA) and implemented by the CRI-CSIR in collaboration with the Water Research and Animal Research Institutes.

Shadrach is confident integrated farming is a viable way out of youth unemployment in Ghana and other African economies.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Listen to audio report...

https://soundcloud.com/kofi-adu-domfeh/integrated-food-production-system-in-ghana

Ghanaian scientists make progress with GM rice trials

The first two trials of genetically modified rice in Ghana have been successful, according to researchers at the Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

The first-ever GM crop to be planted in Ghana took off early 2013 on confined fields at Nobewam in the Ashanti region.

The research seeks to develop genetically improved African rice varieties by combining genes for three traits – nitrogen use efficiency, water use efficiency and salt tolerance in rice production, dubbed ‘NEWEST Rice’.

“What we do in the trial is that we take agronomic data; so we look for yield, plant performance, then we compare with those that do not have the gene,” stated Charles Afriyie-Debrah, a research scientist and biosafety officer at the CRI.

The germplasm transformed is the NERICA-4 developed by AfricaRice.

Compounded by climate change, drought is so widespread it cannot be mitigated solely by irrigation, he observed.

“The next stage, according to our plan, is the second gene which will make the plant survive in times of little rain, so in years where we have drought problems the plant can still survive,” said the researcher.

At the end of the different trials, the triple stack genes will be put together into one plant. “That means I will have a plant that can survive when I don’t apply fertilizer, when there is less water and when the soil is acidic,” Mr. Afriyie-Debrah stated.

A ban on inland rice importa­tion in Ghana is contributing significantly to the demand for local rice. However, the demand for local rice currently outstrips supply.

The objective of the NEWEST Rice trials is to explore how farmers can maximize yields per bag of applied fertilizer to enhance Ghana’s food production.

But commercialization is not expected any time soon. According to Mr. Afriyie-Debrah, the trial will include a ‘food and feed analysis’ which will take more years to ensure the product is safe for consumption “so that when we say that we are commercializing it, somebody wouldn’t eat and say I’m having allergies or anything”.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh 

Commercializing agricultural research for high productivity in Ghana

Agricultural products and technologies developed by Ghanaian researchers under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) are not shelved but impacting on production levels of farmers and agro processors.

Director-General of the Council, Dr. Abdulai Baba Salifu, rather contends that the challenge is commercialization and large-scale production of the improved crop varieties to increase access to such products.

“The new push now is for greater commercialization and therefore we would very much like to partner the private sector to ensure that all the nice technologies that we’ve developed come to good use to that more people can get access,” he stated.

The Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the CSIR has developed and released over 90 improved food crop varieties for Ghanaian farmers and consumers since the 1970s. These include maize, cowpea, soybean, groundnut, rice, plantain, banana, pepper, yam, cassava, sweet potato and cocoyam.

To increase awareness of the Institute’s contribution to agricultural productivity in the country, the CSIR-CRI has held as Open Day in Kumasi to showcase improved technologies developed to support increased agricultural production and nutrition in Ghana as well as deepen relationships with major stakeholders in agricultural research and development.

 

The researchers, policy makers, farmers, industrialists and other users of research results had an opportunity to interact as they visited research fields and laboratories at the Institute.

The Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, acknowledged the agricultural research activities conducted by CSIR-Crops Research Institute provide great opportunities for long term poverty alleviation and food security in Ghana.

A statement from the Ministry however says the competitiveness of agricultural products from Ghana on the world market has been low because the crops are mostly produced and processed mainly at the subsistence level and not as commercial products.

“The public sector’s efforts to commercialize these crops and their products have been minimal and not quite effective. The challenge now then is how to commercialize and improve the competitiveness of our crops and other products on the market to help small-holder farmers who depend on the crops for their livelihoods,” it said.

Ghana is self sufficient in roots and tuber crops production – cassava, yam, sweet potato and cocoyam – which contribute 46% of the agricultural GDP. Ghana currently produces over 50% of cereals – maize and rice.

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) believes with the right policy environment, the research capacity exists within the CSIR to drastically reduce the huge annual import bill for rice.

According to Dr. Baba Salifu noted Ghanaian food crops are comparable to global brands, especially grain quality.

He observed that “some market women sometimes do bag our improved varieties, label them and sell them as imported grain,” due to the public obsession for foreign products.

“I will entreat Ghanaian consumers that most of the food commodities that you eat these days are originated by your Ghanaian scientists… there is no beans that you’re going to eat or buy from the market that was not developed by the CSIR,” said Dr. Salifu.

He added that some agro industries are also using the improved varieties as raw materials for processing.

The scientists are also concerned with “healthy seed for healthy plants” and therefore develop breeder seeds – including other planting materials – and release them to the Grains and Legumes Development Board of MOFA for foundation seed production. 

“The process continues until our farmers obtain certified seed for planting,” says Dr. Hans Adu-Dapaah, Director of the CSIR-CRI.

“We have played a part in moving the government agenda of achieving food security and improved livelihood for the people of this country forward,” noted Dr. Hans Adu-Dapaah, Director of the CSIR-CRI, adding that the Institute “would continue to put in our maximum effort for the advancement of agriculture and achievement of food security”.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Ghanaian farming communities befriend value addition to cocoyam

Mercy Odwira has been farming cocoyam, cassava and plantain for over two decades at Kukuom, in the Asunafo South District of the Brong Ahafo region.

Cocoyam is the main source of food and income to sustain her family’s livelihood. Until three years ago, Mercy would harvest stumpy produce from a large cultivated crop land.

“Now we are enjoying economies of scale; we plant on a small acre of land but harvest larger quantities of produce. I have tripled my yield on a one acre farmland,” she stated.

Mercy is among Ghanaian farmers accessing new and improved varieties of cocoyam introduced by researchers at the Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific an Industrial Research (CSIR).

Cocoyam is an important staple in Ghana with an annual consumption rate of 38kg per head.

To increase production, three improved varieties – yielding an average 6-8metric tonnes per hectare – have been introduced to local farmers under the World Bank sponsored West African Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP).

Cocoyam Breeder at the CRI, Emmanuel Lanor Omenyo, says the varieties are high-yielding, nutritious and disease tolerant – all varieties are tolerant to major cocoyam diseases such as Leap Blight and Root Rot.

“On the whole, we want to increase the production of cocoyam,” he said. “These materials [Gyimidi, Akyedee and Mayeyie varieties] have been accepted by the farmers, so we are very hopeful that the adaptation rate will be very high”.

Agric extension agent, Rita Konadu, is enthused at the adoption rate for the new cocoyam varieties. She says most farmers in the district are turning to cocoyam as an alternative to plantain, especially in the dry season.

The use of cocoyam in preparing dishes has been limited to few traditional uses like boiling and roasting for consumption.

The researchers are now disseminating technologies in cocoyam products to farmers and food processors in farming communities to enhance utilization.

The recipes introduced include the Cocoyam Fritters, Stuffed Cocoyam Leaves, Cocoyam Fish Cake and Roasted Stuffed Cocoyam.

Michael Akuamoah Boateng, a Food Scientist at the CRI, says broadening the utilization base of cocoyam is to afford the farmers access to markets for the produce, create employment and improve the nutritional base of farming communities.

Mercy is excited at the opportunity to add value to her cocoyam produce for preservation and nutrition.

“We have also been exposed to additives in processing cocoyam for a variety of dishes, especially to cater for the food needs of our children. Most importantly, I can earn income from selling the cocoyam recipes when I don’t go to the farm,” she shared.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Agricultural research in Ghana boosted with ultramodern biotech lab

Scientists in Ghana have access to an ultra-modern biotechnology laboratory to do their tissue-culturing and other advanced cell biology techniques in agricultural research.

The completion of the $1.8million biotech complex in Kumasi is a major leap in the sustainable management of genetic resources for agricultural production.

The facility will facilitate the generation and dissemination of new technologies to farmers, processors and other end-users.

The project is an offshoot of the West African Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP), a World Bank funded-project, being implemented by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Crop Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

Director of the CRI-CSIR, Dr. Hans Adu-Dapaah, says the facility will become fully operational upon commissioning by the President.

According to him, it will serve as the West African sub-region hub as far as roots and tuber research is concerned.

Under the WAAPP, the CRI is a centre of specialization for root and tuber crops, including cassava, sweet potato, cocoyam and yam.

Biotechnology techniques have served as efficient tools for enhanced agricultural production in developed countries. They are essential for preparing clean planting materials with high crop yield for distribution to farmers.

It has been reported, for instance, that the use of clean planting materials can lead to about 30% increase in sweet potato tubers.

The WAAPP, since take off in 2008, has come up with some high yielding and disease-tolerant crop varieties.

The Programme is currently in its second phase of implementation.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh