Farmers in the Upper East Region have been urged to adapt to new crop varieties with the potential to with stand climate change to enhance agriculture productivity.
The Upper East Regional Director for the Department of Agriculture, Alhaji Zakaria Fuseini said this would ensure stable food security in spite of the climate change which had become a global monster.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghanaian Times in Bolgatanga, Wednesday, on the aftermath of late rains on farmers’ crops in the Upper East Region
Allhaji Fuseini said “climate change has caught up with us over the years, and there is the need for the farmer to adapt to stress tolerant varieties going forward.”
He said the “phenomenon of climate variabilities” could largely be blamed on human induced factors, as forests had been depleted as a result of the continuous pruning of trees by the folks.
According to him, the situation was worse in the central bloc of the region, saying farmlands had suffered a “dire dry spell” since there was little or no moisture to facilitate crop cultivation in the early months of the rainy season.
He cited communities around the eastern corridor including Bawku, Zebilla, Pusiga, Garu, Binduri, Tempane and their immediate environs as those that did not suffer same fate because of the availability of forest reserves.
“The Western areas like the Navrongo, Kandega, Chuchiliga, Kayoro, Katiu, Sandema, Fumbisi among others, in the Kassena-Nankana West District, the Builsa South District, the Builsa North and Kassena-Nankana Municipalities, all have enjoyed rains, and the situation in those areas is good,” Alhaji Fuseini remarked.
He however, warned that indiscriminate cutting down of trees in the forest reserves in those areas could spell a doom for them in the cropping seasons in future so long as the issue of climate change was concerned, and asked the notorious chainsaw operators to steer clear of the act.
Alhaji Fuseini added that climate change had led to increased incidences of drought, heat and extreme weather events, as well as crop pests and diseases; all of which had the likelihood to limit the growth of staple food, including maize, rice, and potato.
“It could pose a considerable danger to food insecurity in the region, and it is the reason the Regional Director of the Department of Agriculture strongly advocates the need for smallholder farmers to adopt drought tolerant or climate resilient maize, cowpea, potato and other varieties, as they desire to get bumper harvest, sustainably increase food security to feed the growing population in the region and the country at large,” he reiterated.
Alhaji Fuseini asserted the region could bounce back and reclaim its status as the food basket of the country if all stakeholders showed interest to encourage farmers to adopt, and advance best practices in crop cultivation.
FROM FRANCIS DABRE DABANG, BOLGATANGA
