Awaiting the rains - maize production under constraint

Unfavorable weather is talking a toll on one of the staples in Ghana and a major driver of the agriculture sector.

Drought is one of the most important constraints to maize production and productivity in the Savanna Ecological Zone of West and Central Africa.

Annual yield loss to drought is estimated at about 15 per cent of expected harvest, though Ghana’s rate of may be much higher.

The situation is caused by climate change which is gradually but steadily sweeping across the country.

Ejura, a farming community in the Ashanti Region, is one of six major maize growing areas in Ghana.

August and September are months farmers record the heaviest rains but this year has not even recorded a drop of rain in Ejura.

Farmers here have prepared their land, waiting anxiously for the rains to come down so they can plant their crops. For eight weeks, the wait is endless.

Henry Azot has been farming for 25 years. The 56-year old describes the situation as abnormal.

“Normally, we have the heaviest rains in the minor season but this year is different it is rather dry, we have not had no rain in Ejura. It’s abnormal,” he noted.

His ten-acre maize farm is withering in the absence of moisture. Like other farmers at Ejura, he relies solely on nature to irrigate his farm.

The situation, he acknowledges is beyond man’s control because with all the good agriculture practices, without moisture the plants cannot survive.

“Farmers work with the rain and without moisture the plants cannot survive. This moisture, we are not using irrigation so we rely on nature.”

For Mr. Azot, even if the rains come now, it will be too late for farmers because the time for applying fertilizer on farms has elapsed.

He observes that fertilizers are not just to be applied on the farm, but the timing.

“When the maize is three to four weeks and you are now applying fertilizer, definitely it will affect yield negatively. Because though you applied fertilizer it wasn’t timely”, he explains.

All things being equal, Mr. Azot explains, the average yield from his ten acre land is between 10 to 12 bags per acre.

But if fertilizer is applied late it is going to reduce drastically from the 10 bag per acre to a lower yield.

The effect is that the country’s food security is being threatened and if this persists till end of the year, there could be food shortage.

Mr. Azot explains, “The danger is that, this is likely to lead to low yields, low yields means less food especially maize. And less food means less food to feed the mouths-which means there will be shortfall in maize production if the drought trend continues.”

Poultry farmers also rely on maize to feed their birds which give us eggs and chicken for consumption and commercial purposes.

President of the Ghana National Poultry Farmers Association, Victor Oppong-Agyei, explains poultry farmers are panicking due to the drought can affect the industry.

“We are also panicking about what is going to happen next year, we have realized that definitely there is going to be shortage of maize,” he said.

Maize has been the important source of energy for the poultry industry because by formulation, every ton of feed prepared, maize is used.

Mr. Oppong-Agyei reveals that in preparing feed for Layers, they use 50 to 55 per cent of maize, and 63 per cent of maize for Broiler feed.

“If we are not able to record good yield in Ghana that means we have to import, exchange rate will affect it so the price of maize too will be very high. This will affect production,” he said.

The other alternative is wheat but Mr. Oppong-Agyei explains, “We don’t grow wheat in this country so in this case we will have to import and we know it is going to be devastating in the country.”

There is panic among poultry farmers because the only alternative feed source would have to be imported.

Mr.Oppong-Agyei is worried. “We are just praying that things will change that it will rain so that the farmers will grow maize for us.”

But there is hope for food security after all. The Crop Research Institute of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research has developed some new maize varieties.

Three out of the seven new varieties released are drought-tolerant and have extra early maturity period to address the current danger of food shortage confronting the country.

Senior Maize Breeder at the Crop Research Institute in Ghana, Dr. Kwadwo Obeng Antwi explains scientists are aware of the impact of climate change and therefore developing varieties to assist farmers.

Current maize varieties on the market require between 110 to 120 days for maturing.

But CSIR-CRI has proposed extra early maturing varieties-between 80-85 days – then early varieties (between 90 to 95 days) and intermediate ones (between 105 to 110 days).

“So around this time of the season that the rains must come and hasn’t come, you cannot depend on the old varieties. So you chose the variety depending on the rains,” Dr. Obeng Antwi advised. “I will tell farmers that they shouldn’t lose hope because even though the season is changing, we also developing improved varieties.”

Though there are early-yielding varieties, they can become useful only in the next planting season because land has already been used to plant full- year maturing varieties.

So until it rains, the risk of maize shortage stares Ghanaians in the face.

Businesses of poultry farmers, maize growers and consumers are all at stake.