By Francis Kwabena Cofie
Mangoase (E/R), Dec. 7, GNA – To sustain rare food crops and preserve vanishing plant species to diversify food sources, a Community Seed Bank has been launched at Mangoase in the Akuapem North Municipality of the Eastern Region.
The Seed Bank, the first of its kind is intended to preserve orphan crop species and hard-to-find plant species and make them available to farmers in the area for commercial planting to restock the bank with the seeds to forestall their extinction.
The pilot project, which would be replicated elsewhere is an initiative of NUS Network, an organization which promote, and safeguard neglected plant species in Ghana in partnership with Alliance Biodiversity International-CIAT and sponsored by the Netherlands Embassy.
Dr Seth Tawiah Agbesi, the Headmaster of the Mangoase Senior High School, in a welcome address, said, “by protecting and conserving native crop species, we can ensure that future generations would be able to enjoy the same abundance of biodiversity that we have presently.”
He said the seed bank would in a substantial extent help to preserve local biodiversity, which was under threat from factors such as climate change and habitat loss.
The headmaster emphasized the importance in promoting food security and sustainability with a reliable supply of seeds upon which the community would have access to steady supply of nutritious and diverse food sources.
He said since the numerous benefits to be derived from the project; the school did not hesitate to provide land for the project.
Dr Daniel Nyadanu, the Project Coordinator and a Senior Research Scientist at the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana and Coordinator, NUS Network Ghana said agricultural biodiversity provided diverse options as a strategy for cultivating and processing of food product for food and nutrition security and resilience for livelihood in the face of climate change.
He said, “many orphan crops were dense in nutrients and health promoting biological compounds adaptable to our local conditions, yet we have neglected and fail to cultivate them.”
NUS Network, he said, would sustainably conserve the local crop seeds and species in the locality which include root and tuber crops including plantains.
Dr. Nyadanu urged the Mangoase community and stakeholders in the area to own the project and work in collaboration with the school to achieve the desired goals, adding that training would be offered to individuals who would act as focal persons.
Madam Tenniglo Inge, Agricultural Consular, Netherland Embassy and the guest speaker, said with the advent of the project, farmers would be able to grow and sustain neglected and under-utilized seeds.
According to her, for centuries, communities had conserved neglected and under-utilized species as part of the local food system and the chain must not be broken, adding that; “Without these food crops and their genetic sources, we cannot have a good diet of quality nutrition and healthy life.”
She disclosed that there were about 400,000 food crop species available but less than half of that were being consumed.
Ghana, she said, was committed to the international treaty which has the objective of the conversation and sustainable use of plant resources for food and agriculture.
Madam Inge urged the farming community, and all concerned to work together to preserve the food crops for the benefit of all.
Madam Pearl Adu-Addy, the Akuapem North Municipal Director of Agriculture, said the Mangoase Community Seed Bank offered a unique opportunity to farmers in the municipality
to diversify their crop production as well as providing them with access to genetically improved seeds with the requisite plant properties needed to withstand the effects of climate change.
She said the project tied in with government’s flagship programme PFJ phase 2, which aims at ensuring food security and resilience by improving the availability of agricultural inputs including improved seeds.
GNA