Salaga: The Soybean Breeding Team of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (CSIR-SARI) has recently conducted an on-farm demonstration at Salaga, aiming to bridge the gap between research and the practical adoption of improved soybean varieties by local farmers.
According to Ghana News Agency, this initiative is a part of CSIR-SARI's broader efforts to actively involve farmers in the development, testing, and selection of new soybean lines. The goal is to ensure that research outputs are aligned with the practical needs of farmers. The demonstration event was designed to help farmers understand good agronomic practices, identify soybean lines with high pod clearance, high yield, and early maturity, and encourage the adoption of improved technologies for increased productivity and sustainability.
The event featured both mother and baby trials. The mother trial, managed by researchers, showcased improved agronomic practices, such as row planting, proper spacing, and fertilizer application. Farmers were also provided with seed packages for their own baby trials, allowing them to compare the new soybean lines with their traditional varieties.
Dr. Ophelia Asirifi Amoako, an agronomist and senior research scientist at CSIR-SARI, explained during the event in the East Gonja Municipality of the Savannah Region that this demonstration is part of a new approach called Participatory Varietal Selection (PVS). This approach allows farmers to be directly involved in evaluating and selecting improved lines developed by researchers to ensure that new varieties meet their needs and preferences.
Dr. Charles Nelimor, a research scientist and soybean breeder at CSIR-SARI, highlighted the introduction of two innovative soybean lines: one with high pod clearance for mechanized harvesting and another with early maturity traits to enhance resilience against climate change-induced rainfall variability.
Dr. Francisca Addae-Frimpomaah, Head of the Soybean Breeding Team at CSIR-SARI, expressed the expectation that farmers would identify and adopt the lines they find most suitable based on desired traits such as yield, maturity, and pod clearance. She emphasized the importance of releasing varieties that farmers would cultivate and benefit from, rather than letting them remain on research shelves.
The demonstration also addressed challenges faced by many farmers in the area, such as low yields, poor soil fertility, and pest attacks due to limited fertilizer use and inadequate planting methods. Mr. Osman Suleman, a farmer supporting the SARI group in managing the field activities, described the exercise as crucial for the community, noting that it motivated many farmers to adopt the new practices after witnessing visible results on the field.
Mr. Suleman identified harvesting as a significant challenge for soybean farmers, with manual harvesting leading to delays and post-harvest losses. He indicated that the introduction of high pod clearance lines offered a timely solution, enabling farmers to utilize mechanized harvesters and streamline their harvesting process.
Dr. Addae-Frimpomaah also appealed to the government to reconsider the ban on soybean exports, as lifting it could create a market for farmers and motivate them to expand production. Farmers observed noticeable differences between the new lines and their local varieties, including better growth, healthier plants, high pod clearance, and improved pod formation.
