By Laudia Sawer
Tema, Dec. 4, GNA – Madam Patience Alloh, the Tema West Agricultural Director, has said that to maximise the remaining lands in the Tema West Municipality for farming, it is important that households consider growing crops in containers.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Tema as part of the 2023 National Farmers Day Celebration, Madam Alloh said vegetables could be well cultivated in containers to provide healthy food items for the family and ensure good health in the municipality.
She said to achieve this, her outfit, as part of their activities, held a programme to introduce container and backyard gardening to households to provide them with wholesome vegetables.
She said currently, 50 households had successfully established their gardens, growing lettuce, bell pepper, okro, bonnet pepper, tomatoes, onions, maize, and ayoyo in their backyards and containers.
She said other programmes embarked on by the department included the sensitization of farmers to climate-smart agriculture to mitigate the hard effects of climate change on farming.
The Municipal Agric Director indicated that participants were taking part in mulching, planting resistance varieties, and cover cropping as part of smart farming.
She said women groupings were also trained on income-generating activities to empower marginalised women, as well as post-harvest management to help reduce post-harvest losses of their produce.
She said preparations were far gone for the training of a group of women on mushroom and snail production within the municipality.
Madam Alloh said 42 farmers also received training on catfish production, out of which 15 had successfully established their fish ponds.
GNA