By Comfort Sena Fetrie-Akagbor
Botanga (N/R) Dec. 13, GNA – The Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) in partnership with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, has organised a field trip to improved rice varieties’ site for farmers at the Botanga Irrigation Scheme in the Kumbungu District.
The field day to the Northern Region as part of the Ricowas project, was to showcase to farmers the quality of the varieties and good agronomic practices they could adopt to ensure good leveling, nutrients and water management among others to increase their yields.
Dr Issah Sugri, the Ricowas Project Director and Deputy Director of SARI, told the farmers that the field exercise was to enable them to observe and share their preferred choice of rice varieties for cultivation during farming season.
He said Ricowas project on scaling up climate resilient rice production in west Africa, as being implemented by CSIR–SARI and funded by Adaptation Fund.
It was also being supported by Observatoire Du Sahara Et Du Sahel Sahara and Sahel Observatory, to strengthen human and institutional capacity in Climate-Resilient Rice Production (CRRP).
He said it was also to assist farmers and all actors to strengthen communication, advocacy and partnerships to scale up System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and CRRP in Ghana for increased production and food security.
Dr Sugri said the project was being implemented in 13 West African countries including Ghana to build the SRI, which was a farming methodology, aimed at increasing rice yield, using fewer resources to reduce environmental impacts.
He said the project covered seven regions of Ghana, which included the Northern, Upper East, Savannah, Volta, Oti, Western North, and Ashanti Regions.
It involved the use of technologies to increase yield, address food security and improve upon the quality of the rice grains.
Dr Sugri said the new varieties comprising CRI-Kantinka, CRI-Mpuntuo, CRI+Dartey, alongside AGRA rice, had quality and healthier grains compared to the other varieties.
He told the farmers that all the rice varieties had qualities such as early maturing, high yielding, good grain quality, aroma and tolerance to diseases and pests.
Mr Abdul-Fatawu Ismail, the District Agric Officer, advised the farmers to cultivate the varieties by adopting good agronomic practices such as leveling of fields before cultivation, nursing and transplanting the seedlings within spacing before broadcasting, as well as to ensure proper irrigation and application among others.
Mr Mohammed Alhassan Issahaku, a Rice Seeds Farmer at Botanga, promised to partner SARI to supply quality certified rice seeds to farmers, for increased cultivation to promote food security in the country.
GNA