Consolidating agricultural productivity through efficient innovation platforms

Ghana has developed over 30 agricultural technologies since the West African Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP) was initiated in 2007.

WAAPP’s development objective is to generate and disseminate improved technologies in the country’s top priority commodities in root and tuber crops, specifically, cassava, yam, sweet potato and cocoyam.

WAAPP Ghana has the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) as its implementing agency.

Under the implementation of the first phase of the Programme, researchers at the CSIR-Crops Research Institute in Kumasi – the designated National Centre of Specialization – have developed diverse crop varieties and agricultural technologies.

However, the rate of transfer and adaptation of these technologies remains low along the agricultural value chain, observed Augustine Danquah of WAAPP’s Coordination Unit at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

This is because the project did not develop a comprehensive action plan to scale up technologies and best practices during the implementation of the first phase.

Director of CSIR-CRI, Dr. Stella Ennin, has acknowledged there have been gaps in previous participatory approaches to research.

She says the previous approach placed emphasis on farmers and extension whilst others in the value chain were placed in the background.

Adopting the innovation platform and Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IR4D) approaches, according to Dr. Ennin, is critical in engaging all key players long the agricultural value chain, including processes, traders and marketers.

“Usually we are able to move forward when there are projects in agriculture; what happens in the absence of projects?” she quizzed. “We should be able to incorporate this concept of innovation platforms and IR4D into our agricultural and extension system, so that whether there is a project or not, we’ll be able to move our agriculture forward”.

Innovative platforms give room for interest groups to discuss issues around a particular commodity or cropping system, especially with the view to adopting improved technologies.

Under the second phase of WAAPP, the platforms are being promoted to consolidate the gains by disseminating the develop technologies for widespread adoption.

WAAPP is collaborating with the International Centre for development oriented Research in Agriculture (ICRA) to build capacity of innovative platform facilitators in 15 districts in the country on soft skills to deepen the approach at the local level.

ICRA’s Benjamin Horlali Kofi Atidjah says technical skills must be complemented with soft skills to accelerate the adoption of agricultural technologies.

The second phase of WAAPP will be implemented from 2012-2017 with an amount of $60million to scale-up the generation, dissemination and adoption of improved technologies in the participating countries’ priority agricultural commodity areas.

“What we need to do right now is to move the innovation platforms beyond the community level; we should be able to establish innovation platform at the regional level and the national level for certain commodities… to improve on our food security and also on our exports,” said Dr. Stella Ennin.

The two-phase 10-year programme is funded by the World Bank and involves three countries – Ghana, Mali and Senegal.

Agronomic technologies for sustainable yam production in the face of climate change

Farmers at Nyomoase in the Atebubu-Amantin Municipality of the Brong Ahafo Region are happy to embrace an improved technology in yam production.

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

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.

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Ghana will lose out if it fails to pass Plant Breeders Rights Bill – researchers

Local farmers and others in the agricultural value chain need new technologies to boost food production and add value to produce.

This is important to ensure higher income earnings for agriculturists and food security for the economy.

Ghanaian agricultural researchers and scientists however want protection for their intellectual property in developing new technologies and crop varieties.

They have therefore been pushing for the Plant Breeders Rights Bill to be passed by Parliament.

The bill was one of the most contentious issues of public discuss in 2014 – some groups, including the peasant farmers association, argued against passage of the bill, saying it will not be in their best interest.

But advocates for the bill want it passed as soon as possible.

Dr. Hans Adu-Dapaah, the immediate past Director of the Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has been championing passage of the bill.

According to him, there have been series of engagements to explain the intent of some clauses in the bill which have been contested by interest groups.

Dr. Adu-Dapaah is worried the country will lose out when local plant breeders are not protected.

“We want the farmers to adopt the technologies we have developed because without it we are losing out,” he said. “All the materials we have developed now because of WAAPP, our neighbors have access to the materials and if we do not protect them, they get it and protect it and we will be at the losing end”.

Under the West African Agricultural Productivity Programme (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.

“I’m praying that parliament passes it as early as possible,” expressed Dr. Adu-Dapaah.

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

Ghanaian farmers to access new rice and sorghum varieties

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

Cassava value addition creates more income for farmers

Ghana’s promotion of High Quality Cassava Flour has in the past four years helped open up markets for cassava farmers to improve incomes and reduce poverty levels.
   

According to Dr. Abdulai Baaba Salifu, Director-General of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), over 45,000 tons of surplus cassava from farmers’ fields had been moved into the new markets within the cassava value chain, as at March 2012.

The CSIR-Food Research Institute (FRI) in collaboration with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) developed agro-processed foods under the “Cassava: Added Value for Africa” Project to serve as wheat flour substitute for the production of bread, pastries and in plywood production amongst others.

Dr. Salifu says this has created “an overall income of over GH¢1.5 million for close to 15,000 cassava farmers, which translates to an extra income of about GH¢100 per farmer”.

He was speaking on “Enhancing Food Security and Regional Integration through Research and Development” at a Regional Workshop on Root and Tuber Crops, organized under the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP) in Kumasi.

The World Bank in May 2012 approved a US$120 million financing for the Phase II of the WAAPP to improve food production by spreading new agricultural technologies in Ghana and Senegal.

The program will finance technology exchange programs, align national priorities with regional ones to increase regional cooperation in food technology generation, and support a greater push for technology adoption and dissemination.

In Ghana, the CSIR’s Crop Research Institute executes the research component whilst the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) disseminates the research findings.

WAAPP Phase I helped boost research and extension activities, bringing together research and educational institutions, industrialists, extension workers, farmers and consumers to a common national objective in Ghana and in the sub-region.

 

Crop Scientist, Prof. S.K.A. Danso expects the second phase of the WAAPP to stress on getting the improved technologies to majority of farmers, “visit them and make sure they are adopting the technology and once you extend to some farmers who accept it, other would learn from them”.

“Our populations are increasing but the land area of the country remains the same with portions deteriorating due to human activities.  With the recent phenomenon of climate change and its adverse effects – flooding, drought, heat and related outbreak of pests and diseases – it takes demand-driven research to develop technologies and products to meet the demands of our farmers, processors and consumers. This is where CSIR comes in”, noted Dr. Salifu.

 

Minister of Food and Agriculture, Kwesi Ahwoi, believes the effective coordination of research efforts within the national and international agricultural research system is very important to ensure that scarce resources are applied to priority research.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh