By P.K. Yankey
Nvellenu (W/R), Aug 23, GNA- About 50 vegetable farmers in the Ellembelle, Nzema-East and Jomoro Municipalities have participated in a-two-day capacity building training and strategic partnership on Agroecology and sustainable farming practices with a focus on nature-based solutions to farming.
It is being attended by officials from the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana, smallholder farmers, Directors at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) in the three Assemblies in Nzema and the media.
Opening the training at Nvellenu in the Jomoro Municipality of the Western Region, the President of the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana, Mr Wepia Addo Awal Adugwala said the need had arisen for the Association to train and conscientise farmers to resort to organic farming and Climate Smart Agriculture without the application of exotic chemicals to grow and produce food for a healthy nation.
He said the over-reliance on harmful weedicides, pesticides and other chemicals for vegetable and crop production, had far-reaching consequences on consumers.
Mr Adugwala advised farmers to be wary of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) creeping into the Ghanaian market since they were alien to indigenous culture and inimical to health.
He entreated the government and for that matter, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and traditional rulers to support farmers with land and basic farming inputs to produce more organic foodstuffs and livestock to feed the nation.
A Farmer at Nvellenu and an expert in Agroecology farming, Mr John Ackah took farmers through his demonstration farms on nursery preparation, bed preparation and transplanting, pruning of crops and vegetables, organic manuring and application of fertilizer and organic weedicides and pesticides which do not wreak any havoc to vegetables and crops.
He asked farmers to prepare the land with ashes to remove the acidic content in the soil and form sizeable beds to plant a variety of vegetables and nurture them to grow well.
Mr Ackah said sustainable vegetable farming was capital intensive as farmers needed enough money to procure seedlings, basic farm tools, implements and organic manure as well as constant irrigation means to water their farms.
He advised farmers not to burn their farmlands most of the time but to allow the cleared bushes to decompose to serve as organic manure to increase the fertility of the soil.
Mr Ackah advised vegetable farmers to spend much time on their farms to irrigate their farmlands in the right proportion to avoid the presence of fungi among the vegetables and appealed to the vegetable farmers to constantly turn the soil under their crops for improved yield.
The Executive Director of the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana, Mr Bismark Owusu Nortey said the Association had observed that due to soil infertility, many of the farmers relied on inorganic or synthetic fertilizers to increase yield which were harmful to the body hence the need to sensitize farmers on organic farming.
He said since 2015, the Association had teamed up with other partners to train farmers on organic farming every year through Agroecology and how to maintain the land for investments.
He appealed to the farmers not to rely on the use of inorganic or synthetic fertilizers on their farms since they are toxic to the body.
Mr Nortey asked the farmers to form cooperatives and appeal to the government to address their concerns.
The Jomoro Municipal Director of Agriculture, Mr Kaku Tanoe stressed the need for the government and farmers to mitigate the harmful effects on farming commodities.
GNA