The Programmes Director of Fertiliser Research and Responsible Implementation(FERARI), Dr Prem Bindraban, has disclosed that the average use of fertiliser in the country was still 21 kilogrammes per hectare.
This he said was insufficient to achieve sustainable agricultural growth and food production in the country.
He made the disclosure at a FERARI conference in Tamale on Tuesday.
The conference brought together University students from Morocco, Ghana, USA, Brussels, India and the Netherlands.
The conference was organised by Office Cherifien des Phosphates (OCP), Africa, and implemented by International Fertiliser Development Centre (IFDC) with funding support from Mohammed Polytechnic University of Morocco.
FERARI is an international public-private partnership that builds science-based approach to site-specific fertiliser strategy for widespread adoption by farmers in Ghana to improve food and nutrition security.
This also would go a long way to transform the fertiliser and food system that would be driven by evidence-based agro-technical perspectives embedded in multi-stakeholder process.
Dr Bindraban said the appropriate fertiliser adoption would improve food security and reduce poverty and inequality.
He explain that the objective of public-private partnership was to develop the evidence-based systematic approach to support widespread adoption of balanced fertilisers by farmers in the less developed markets of sub-Saharan African countries such as Ghana.
Dr Bindraban added that this would serve as a means to improve food and nutrition security.
The Progrmmes Director said the implementation of the FERARI programmes would integrate implementation activities to develop the fertiliser value chain in Ghana.
He said FERARI operates in conjunction with the government’s flagship programme, Planting for Food and Jobs(PFJ), embedded in development efforts to reaching prioritised targets.
FROM TIMES REPORTER, TAMALE
