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23.04.2014 Science

Innovative ways needed for farm Extension Services

By GNA
Mr Kofi Humado 2014Mr Kofi Humado 2014
23.04.2014 LISTEN

Accra, April 23, GNA  -  The Minister of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) Mr Kofi Humadu, on Wednesday said Ghana needs to find innovative ways to deliver extension services to farmers.

He said with the current challenges of inadequate extension staff and dwindling resources, government will have to support institutions such as the Plantwise (PW) initiative of the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) to enable the country to overcome most of the challenges facing the agriculture sector.

Mr Humadu stated in a speech read for him at the review and planning workshop of CABI in Accra.

The workshop was to provide a platform for policymakers, extension and plant protection officers, research scientist, agro input dealers and other stakeholders to discuss and share knowledge and experiences to enhance PW activities in Ghana.

The review workshop would also serve as a platform to deliberate on progress of PW activities in Ghana, Plans for 2014 and chart the way forward in expanding and sustaining plant clinics.

This would assist us in increasing growth, create employment, increase incomes, reduce poverty and achieve food security.

This helps to make the loses of the farmers less, get better yields, increased food security and incomes, and that, he believes PW concept was in the right direction and that the MOFA will eventually incorporate the establishment and running of plant clinics into it activities under the guidance of CABI after the requisite agreement have been reached, he said.

Dr Washington Otieno, PW Regional coordinator, Africa, said one of its focus areas was to work to enable farmers to get better access to appropriate and practical advice information, with which they can improve their productivity, profitably and income.

This in-turn empowers them to increase food security and improve livelihoods, he said, adding that, currently, there were clinics operating in 31 countries, 12 of which were in Africa, with a plan to expand to 40 countries by next year.

The second phase of the PW initiate-the knowledge Bank, will deliver a single point of access to all pest information, he said.

Dr Otieno noted that, it has constantly updated plant health information, including pest distribution data, from a wide range of international sources augmented by validated observations from plant clinics.

He said it would liaise with some Non-Governmental Organisation (NGOs) such as ECASARD, who have shown interest to implement clinics in the Volta Region.

Dr Abdulai B Salifu, Director General of CSIR said he had no doubt that the PW initiative embraced by several countries worldwide will contribute immensely to crop production in Ghana and enhance food security.

He however cautioned PW to tread cautiously with NGOs they to plan to work with and said those NGOs should be singing your song stanza by stanza and their activities should also be in line with that of MOFA to move the countrys food security agenda forward.

The PW is a global programme, led by CABI to increase food security and improve rural livelihood by reducing crop losses and working in close partnership with relevant actors whilst CABI is a global non-profit organisation that works towards improving peoples lives worldwide by providing information and applying scientific expertise to solve problems in agriculture and environment.

The PW strengthens national plant health systems from within, enabling all relevant stakeholders within countries to provide famers with knowledge they need to lose less and feed more.

Currently PW has 25 plant clinics operating in four regions in Ghana seven in Ashanti, ten in Brong Ahafo and four each in Eastern and Northern regions.

Farmers take their diseased plants to the clinic for advice from experts, commonly referred to as Plant Doctors, on how to manage crop pest and diseases, and other plant health problems.

The MOFA and the directorate of the Agricultural Extension Officers, plant protection, other regulatory directorate services and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) are involved in the training, support diagnosis and date management of the initiative.

Since June 2012, PW has trained 57 agriculture extension/plant protection officers and research staff from MOFA and CSIR respectively to become doctors.

GNA

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