By Nicholas Osei-Wusu
The Crops Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research has held an Open Day that allowed crop farmers from Ghana and some West African countries access to the Institute’s Technology Park of improved crop technologies and varieties.
The Crops Research Institute, CRI’s Agricultural Technology Park is a large tract of land with demonstrations of new and improved crop technologies and superior crop varieties developed by research scientists at the Institute.
The CRI Agric Technology Park, which is funded by CORAF, an agriculture technical wing of ECOWAS, has become Ghana’s Centre of Excellence in agricultural technology and ranks as the best of all nine such projects in West and Central Africa.
Demonstrated at the Agric Technology Park are new and improved varieties of cassava, taro, maize, rice, soya bean, cow pea, Bambara beans, ground nut, yam, and potato.
Research scientists at the CRI guided the participating farmers, policymakers, and traditional leaders through the traits and qualities of the various crop varieties.
Perhaps the most outstanding of the demonstration farms is that of different varieties of Taro commonly known as ‘kooko’ in Akan, which is near extinct, for which the development of the new and superior varieties has become apparent.
The participants also went through and had bites of the different dishes prepared from the crop varieties.
The Open Day coincided with the planning meeting of the West African Regional Centre of Excellence for Roots and Tubers.
At a ceremony to officially open the programme, the Director General of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Professor Paul Bosu, pledged his outfit’s commitment to helping government’s agricultural flagship programme ‘Planting for Food’ and Jobs Phase 2, achieve food security as well as Sustainable Development Goal Two to ensure zero hunger with or without policies.
The Director of the Crops Research Institute, Prof. Moses Mochia, noted that, with its mandate as the agric Research and Development agency of the state, CRI is prepared to meet the demands of the fast-changing seasons and technologies to ensure the availability of food for all Ghanaians.
Prof. Mochia expressed reservations about the public’s perception that research scientists in Ghana are shelf researchers.
“Scientists are often accused of their contributions siting in silos. Others describe them as dust gathering on the shelves. And O must say that scientists are not happy at all about these comments. This programme therefore aims at showcasing ready-to-go technologies developed for farmers and all stakeholders in the agribusiness value chain,” he said.
A Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture, Yaw Frimpong, commended the Crops Research Institute and its partners for making available to farmers for adoption its research outputs to make real impact on the lives of people, contrary to the notion that research works only end up on the shelves.
