New rice seeds give better yields, Ghana needs investments to be self-sufficient

Ghana can increase tonnage of rice production, create jobs and enrich the farmers to become self-sufficient if farmers adopt new varieties, Dr Maxwell Darko Asante,Chief Research Scientist at the Crop Research Institute, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research has said.He said the newly developed and certified rice seeds were climate resilient, drought tolerant, long-grain and aromatic and could double yields.Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after engaging rice farmers and other stakeholders on field demonstration and sensory education of new rice varieties, he said the varieties would give maximum yields in rain-fed and irrigation areas under best agronomic practices.He named the new nine certified varieties as CRI-Agyapa, CRI-Korea Mo, Agra rice, CRI-Enapa, CRI-Kang Mo, CRI-Onuapa, CRI-Tuo Mo, CRI-Amankwatia and Legon 1, which are produced for farmers across the country under the Dawhenya Irrigation Scheme.They are produced by CSIR together with the Rural Developmen t Authority (RDA), Korea through the Korea Partnership for Innovation of Agriculture (KOPIA) Ghana Centre, and are grown on over 70 hectares of field at the Scheme.Dr Asante said though the climate had changed and affected crop production, the varieties had been developed to suit consumers and the market demand, adding that the varieties did not use a lot of nitrogen even though it was important for the yield and were also disease tolerant and could yield not less than six tonnes per hectare.'That rate of yields in Ghana is now about 3.5 tonnes and so if we get these varieties and apply good agronomic practices, immediately we are doubling our yields. We are already around 50% self-sufficiency,' he said.He said CSIR together with their partners had all the technologies to make Ghana self-sufficient in rice production, however, what had been left was investment not only by government but the private sector.Dr Kim Hwang-Yong, Director-General, RDA, told the Ghana News Agency that their objective was to produce quality rice seeds and make accessible about 500 tonnes for onward distribution to farmers across the country.He said they had engaged Food Research Institute (FRI) to do sensory test over the country at the cost of $30, 000 within six months where FRI would compare the results of varieties over the few years.'We need to multiply those selected seedlings and help produce more rice to reduce its importation. Our project is a five-year one and we will produce 5,000 tonnes of the quality variety seeds,' Dr Hwang-Yong said.Mr Samuel Debrah, Aveyime Irrigation Scheme Manager, Ghana Irrigation Authority, said, the high quality seed had come at an opportune time since getting these seeds in abundance had been a major challenge.Source: Ghana News Agency