Rice Importation To Cease
A Sawah Technology project at the Ahafo Ano South district THE COUNCIL for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has announced that the country will soon cease importing rice from foreign countries due to a new technology identified by the CSIR.
The new technology, dubbed 'Sawah Rice Cultivation', is expected to support farmers to cultivate more rice annually, so as to compete with foreign rice markets.
The Sawah technology is basically done on low-lying pieces of land where water availability is guaranteed but the method is said to be modified and adopted for the uplands.
Sawah refers to man-made improved rice fields with demarcated bounded, puddle and leveled rice fields with water inlets and outlets, which can be connected to various irrigation facilities such as irrigation canals, ponds, springs or pumps.
The CSIR Soil Research Institute in collaboration with Kinki University from Japan recently held a Farmers' Field Day - New “Sawah” Project, at Biemso in the Ahafo Ano South district to make public the new technology to farmers in the country.
The project started in 1998 on a pilot basis at the district and due to its success it has been extended to other areas in the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions.
Briefing farmers at Biemso, Adugyama and Amakom in the Ahafo Ano South district, the Deputy Director of the Soil Research Institute, Dr. Francis Martey Tetteh pointed out that there is the need for farmers to form groups, seek counseling at the CSIR and adopt the Sawah Technology before going into rice cultivation.
He said since rice has become the staple food of the country, it behoves Ghanaians to grow more rice to meet the consumption demand and even have some to export.
Dr. Tetteh said Ghanaians need 600,000 metric tonnes of rice for consumption every year at a cost of $200 million but added that out of that only 150,000 metric tonnes are produced in the country.
He said with the introduction of 'Sawah', Ghanaians can produce the 600,000 metric tons with $50 million only.
Maxwell Adu Poku, a representative of the district director of CSIR, pointed out that rice plantation is a major occupation in the district and added that with the introduction of the Sawah technology there has been a lot of improvement in the farming output of the farmers.
He said farmers in the area have become successful by adopting the Sawah technology and stressed that based on the success of the project, CSIR has decided to extend it to other districts throughout the country.
The chief of Biemso, Nana Bediako Ababio commended the researchers for their vision to support rice farmers in the country.
According to him, since the introduction of the Sawah technology, there has been lots of improvement in the life of rice farmers in the area and therefore appealed to government to support the project to make it acceptable to all farmers. From Stella Danso, Kumasi
Source: Daily Guide
