By Gloria Anderson
The Executive Director of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), Dr. Canisius Kanangire, has urged farmers to adopt the use of technological products and the appropriate machinery to maximise farm productivity.
Dr. Canisius Kanangire said farmers must take atmospheric conditions into consideration before the cultivation of cowpea. He said that mechanisation must also be taken into account because it can also change the way the land is prepared, which will also influence productivity if the appropriate machinery and tools are used.
Productivity will maximise and this will indirectly bring income to the farmer, which will reduce the rate of poverty among farmers.
“The planting time can influence the yield, so we need to bring mechanisation because it changes the way,and we are working on those different aspects by bringing in strategies and tools, including digital technology, which can improve the output of farmers,” he said.
Dr. Kanangire, added that farmers are embracing the use of technology in farming at a slower pace, and this is due to the lack of awareness creation. The awareness of farmers in many African countries about the use of technology is inactive.
He said it is only the few farmers who were reached and told about the use of technology and have adopted it who have helped in spreading the access of technology to their neighbours.
He added that the major challenge of farmers having the technology products is based on policymakers because there is the need for many regulatory bodies before they are accepted by the government, and this takes several years to be accomplished.
“The beginning of cowpea in Ghana is 2011, so we have already spent 12 years in the process, and if this was shorter, farmers would’ve already understood the benefit they would get from the use of technology, and the cowpea sector would’ve been more prosperous than it is today,” he said.
Dr. Canisius Kanangire called on the media to continue reporting on the use of technological products by farmers to maximise productivity. He further urged African leaders to consider the need to adopt technology to combat poverty .
