Farmers across the country have called on government to commercialize genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to help scale up production on farms as the advent of coronavirus has affected efficiency of most farmers.
According to the farmers, growing GMOs will help increase productivity on their farms, reduce pests, disease infestation, and make the farms less susceptible to the impact of climate change because GMO seeds withstand environmental stresses.
They hold that with GMOs, more can be produced on the same size of farmland while spending less on inputs.
Expressing the woes of farmers in the country, Chief Osman Fukuyama, a farmer at Bereku in the Central Region, emphasized that quite a number of farmers are making losses due to some of the restrictions implemented because Covid-19.
“We are struggling to get access to quality inputs like seeds as the majority of them are imported.”
The farmers made this known while sharing their observations on challenges they are facing in the Agricultural Sector following the advent of the virus.
They explained that introducing GMOs will be pivotal in increasing produce which will make up for losses incurred as a result of Covid-19 related challenges.
The 2019 National Best Agroforestry Farmer, Mr. Robben Asare added that some of his colleagues are struggling to access machinery and equipment, majority of which are imported.
“All the above are negatively impacting productivity and making farming less productive.”
According to reports, Ghana currently imports from other neighboring countries to meet the local demand for legume as pests, particularly pod borer (Maruca vitrata), have hindered the production of cowpea, the most important legume in Ghana over the years.
Sharing his views on Ghana’s agriculture sector challenges smallholder farmers are facing and the role of modern technology in improving agricultural productivity and livelihood, Dr. Mumuni Abdulai, Principal Investigator (Bt Cowpea) at the Savannah Agriculture Research Institute, SARI of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (SARI-CSIR) in Tamale said the institute has developed a new cowpea variety, known as BT cowpea, which is pest-resistant and requires less spraying than the varieties currently being planted by the farmers, which require a lot of spraying of pesticides to survive.
He noted that scientific work on Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT) Cowpea has been completed after almost a decade of research.
Dr. Abdulai explained that the new cowpea variety, could possibly increase yield by 20 times more and field trials in Ghana show productivity in Bt (1925.0 kg/ha) compared with the non-Bt (94.1 kg/ha). He stressed that the acceptance of the product will pave way for the environmental release of the BT Cowpea.
He revealed that the final work document contains details of the research work including the gene inserted in the beans to control the Maruca pest, its safety, and its non-target effect. He went on to say the work will be submitted to the National Biosafety Authority of Ghana.
Research Associate with the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) Dr. Paul Boadu also disclosed that the CSIR- Crop Research Institute is in the process of developing a GM rice variety called NEWEST rice, which, is been engineered to have nitrogen and water use efficiency traits as well as a salt-tolerant trait.
Dr. Boadu said adopting this rice would offer a lot of benefits to farmers as their incomes would improve while consumers would also pay less for the commodity as prices would reduce.
Meanwhile, the Director-General of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Dr. Kodjo Essien Mensah-Abrampa assured that his outfit is developing a policy document on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) for Ghana’s agriculture sector.
“Anywhere agriculture has developed in the world you have excellent Crop biotechnology policy,” he added.
