The Director- General of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Dr Paul Bosu, has appealed to research scientists to ensure farming technologies developed are not kept on the shelves but deployed to the beneficiary farmers.
“Our goal is that the investments that the country has put into research and development are indeed made available to ensure that the nation develops and benefits fully from the tax payers’ money,” he stated.
According to Prof. Bosu, “We are aiming at supporting the government’s Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) to ensuring that Ghana achieves the Sustainable Development Goal Two of zero hunger… but more importantly that no Ghanaian wakes up in the morning and will not get any food to eat… no one should sleep on an empty stomach, that is the ultimate goal.”
He was speaking during the Open Day of the West and Central Africa Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF) Technology Park at the Crop Research Institute of the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CRI-CSIR) at Fumesua in the Ashanti Region on Wednesday.
It brought together research scientists from Ghana and other African Countries to showcase new technologies to boost crop adoption, food and nutrition security in the country.
Prof. Bosu emphasised the importance of deploying agricultural technologies to farmers, which “we have been doing despite lack of funding in line with our mandate to the people of Ghana”.
He told participants that technologies developed were not for mere showing, but that should move from the display shelves to farmers’ fields to the benefit of all.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Dr Bryan Acheampong, in a speech read on his behalf, spoke about a new Input Credit System that would ensure farmers register their farms for the government to provide critical support to them in agricultural inputs.
He explained that the government would bear the production cost of farmers, and also would help farmers get fertilisers at more affordable prices.
The minister urged all farmers to embrace the development to register their farms towards food security in the country.
“The roll out of the programme means one will no longer need to mobilise upfront financing for land development and preparation as well as seeds and fertilisers, government will take care of all that,” he emphasised.
Farmers, he indicated, would pay back in kind, as the government would then deduct all the cost expended from the produce and give the remaining to the owners.
According to the minister, the seeds would be provided by the country’s agricultural research scientists who would be working with the farmers.
The Director of the Crop Research Institute of the CSIR, Prof. Moses Mochiah, said technology development was aimed at ensuring employment to young people and that about 100 young persons had recently been trained to develop new technologies to boost agriculture.
The Chief of Okyerekrom, Kwaku Ababio, chaired the function.
FROM KINGSLEY E.HOPE,FUMESUA
