Farmer demonstration organised on trials of improved seed varieties

Farmers at Awaradone in the Talensi district of the Upper East Region have been taken through demonstration trials on maize, groundnuts, management of aflatoxins and best management practices for its control.The demonstration of the groundnuts and maize farms took place at various locations in the community, to enable the farmers to adopt the practices for improving their crop yields.Dr Issah Sugri, a Senior research scientist at the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (CSIR-SARI), urged the farmers to embrace improved seed varieties to enhance yields.The Research Scientist, who was accompanied by other scientists for the field visit, said the control of aflatoxins in groundnuts and maize was important and embracing these varieties would not only lead to high crop yields, to enable farmers to recoup their investments but would also decrease the contamination of aflatoxin, which posed a greater risk to consumers.Dr Issah Sugri mentioned farmer variety groundnuts and SARI Nut 2 as well as the Honampa and Wandata maize varieties as susceptible to aflatoxins and the use of aflaxsafe known for reduction of aflatoxins.'We are demonstrating the use of aflatoxins and other best management practices for maize and groundnuts to improve yields and reduce aflatoxins to improve yields,' he said.'In the case of the outmoded groundnut and maize seeds, they don't give you high yields, and even after harvesting, when you take it to the factory, they would tell you it contains aflatoxin, and this is also because you don't follow best practices, so we want you to embrace these new varieties for good health,' Dr Sugri, who is also a Post-Harvest Specialist said.The field activity formed part of the EWA-BELT project aimed at promoting food production systems through sustainable intensification of agriculture in organic, agro-forestry, mixed crops and livestock farming in representative smallholder farming systems of different agro-climatic areas of East and West Africa, which Ghana is a beneficiary.The project 's intent was to establish community demonstration farms to show best practices and minimise food losses in Northern Ghana under the EU Horizon 2020.Dr Mutari Abubakar, a Research Scientist at the CSIR-SARI, emphasised that there was a need for the farmers to embrace new technology to improve their crop yield and ensure the quality of their produce for good health.Mr Mathew Sulemana, the Talesnsi District Director of the Department of Agriculture, lauded the effort of CSIR-SARI and its partners for their continued commitment to improving the welfare of farmers and added that his outfit was committed to giving the needed support to the farmers.Madam Mary Tia, a farmer, indicated her readiness to embrace the new varieties for improved yields.He said farming had become expensive these days as more investment went into it, adding these new varieties were good news for farmers because the old seeds indeed did not give them the desired yields.A similar demonstrat ion exercise had also been carried out for over 50 farmers in Walewale in the North East Region.Source: Ghana News Agency