Accra: Some farmers in the Sissala East District have been introduced to innovative farming technologies through a one-day field demonstration held at Pieng. The event, which brought together 80 farmers from five communities, displayed stress-resistant and high-yielding crop varieties of maize, soybean, and cowpea designed to thrive under local conditions.
According to Ghana News Agency, the demonstration was led by Dr. Peter Quandahor, an entomologist from the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (SARI/CSIR). The field day provided farmers with hands-on training and served as a knowledge-sharing platform between local producers and agricultural experts. The main objectives included raising awareness of high-yielding, stress-resistant crop varieties, promoting organic and sustainable farming systems, and encouraging climate-smart practices to reduce environmental impacts.
Dr. Quandahor underscored the importance of selecting the right crop varieties and adopting effective pest, weed, and disease management strategies during farming. He observed that organic farming increases input costs to farmers and there was a need to reduce them to improve income levels for farmers. The demonstration field showed separate fields for soybean, cowpea, and maize, some of which were planted late with organic fertilizer compared with others that did not have synthetic fertilizer applications.
Other varieties of soybean, such as favour, jangkuma, and Afayak, were also shown to the farmers. The cowpea, on the other hand, was still being examined out of the nine candidates for the farmers to choose which one works for them. There were also improved varieties in maize, including wandata, bihilinfa, and onampa.
Dr. Quandahor explained that with organic farming, the resistance to multiple stresses becomes easier, saying, “They show resistance to diseases, stress, drought, and pest stress. These fields were planted late, but due to their potential trait, they are doing better, meaning if you don’t plant early as a farmer, you can still harvest some yields.” He appealed to the farmers to adopt organic farming to reduce the adverse effects of synthetic product usage and go with the varieties that have been shown to them, as they align with climate-smart strategies that could withstand climate change.
Mr. Mahama Salifu, the Sissala East Municipal Director of Agriculture, urged farmers to adopt climate-smart techniques being displayed to them. “Farmers need to plan their activities with climate-smart practices in mind by using locally prepared drought-resistant seeds, which can reduce costs while ensuring better yields, even under challenging weather conditions,” he said.
Mr. Derrick Sedenkor, the National Project Officer, Lands of Opportunities Global Mechanism (LOGME II) of the Sahelian landscape and the sustainable land and water management project, said the Sissala East, Pieng, and Bassisan, as well as the Bulsa and the Kassena Nankana districts, had been selected for the project, expected to span three years. He mentioned that there were other farmer exchange programmes, which went on concurrently in the six other communities in the three districts. He added that the project would focus on restoration, climate resilient activities, capacity building, technology transfer, and energy alternatives.
According to Ghana’s Ministry of Environment, the country lost 880 km² of forest between 2000 and 2010, largely due to agro-pastoral expansion and poor land management. This has contributed to soil erosion, desertification, and a decline in productivity with agriculture accounting for about 40 per cent of national output and 75 per cent of exports.
The Sahelian Landscapes Project is funded by the Italian Ministry of Environment and Security through the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in partnership with the Savannah Agriculture Research Institute (SARI). It is being rolled out in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Niger, Benin, and Senegal to address land degradation, improve food security, and enhance rural livelihoods across the Sahel regions.