By Comfort Sena Fetrie-Akagbor
Dabogshee (N/R), Oct 02, GNA – The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research – Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (CSIR SARI) has organised a green field day for maize farmers in the Northern Region.
The event, which was held at Dabogshee community, was part of Nutrient-Catalysed Agricultural Transformation (NUTCAT) project to demonstrate maize farming management practices to increase farmers’ productivity.
Dr Mutari Abubakari, Coordinator for NUTCAT project at CSIR-SARI, speaking during the event, said the NUTCAT project was in a collection of collaboration of research and training programmes focused on improving precision nutrient management in Africa.
The project is running in nine counties including Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Cote d’ Ivoire and Togo.
He said the project, implemented this year by African Plant Nutrition Institute in partnership with CSIR-SARI, was a simple experimental design with small farm – scale plots of a hectare, divided into two treatments which were Optimised Treatment (OT) and Farmers’ Practice (FP).
Dr Abubakari explained that OT was the combination of practices that would produce attainable yield while FP was the usual practices farmers did in the area.
During the demonstration on the farm, he advised farmers to prepare the land well, starting at the onset of early rains before production of the maize.
He advised farmers to start planting on time when there was adequate moisture, especially in June and July as well as use the right seed from approved source for planting.
He spoke about pest and disease control, urging farmers to use the best method for harvesting to reduce losses.
Mr. Alhassan Mohamed Shiraz, North East Gonja District Director of the Department of Agriculture, urged farmers to use the farm management practices learned to provide nutrient rich food for the country.
The NUTCAT project is being implemented in five districts including Yendi, Tolon, West Mamprusi, North East Gonja and Bono East.
Green Field Days serve the dual purpose of demonstrating best practices and providing inputs for further research.
GNA