The Crop Research Institute (CRI) has called on extension officers in the agricultural sector across the country to ensure farmers engage in the practice of farm sanitation to help improve crop production.
The call was made at the 2020 Research Extension-farmer Linkage Committee (RELC) meeting of the Asutifi North District Assembly in the Ahafo Region under the auspices of the Agriculture Department for stakeholders.
Dr. Stephen Yeboah, Researcher at CRI in Kumasi, one the main advocators for farm sanitation highlighted poor sanitation as one of the major causes of low productivity. According to him, most crop farmers do not place importance on keeping their farms tidy and it is the main cause of recording low yield leading to poor production which affects the income of the farmers.
He stated that though some farmers observe farm sanitation, their research proves that, it is done at a latter time which may have already caused damage to crops.
He then charged extension officers who are assigned to educate farmers on the best practices as well as its importance and to encourage them to adapt farm sanitation practice to help boost production.
Dr. Stephen Yeboah emphasized that untidy farm reduces 30 percent yield of crops. This he said, is a worrying situation to farmers and the country at large hence going forward, farmers must take the practice seriously to see changes in their farm produce.
Also, he advised farmers to adopt all the measures highlighted by researchers while speaking on the presence of global climate change. According to him, that is the only way CRI can help their activities.
He suggested that for farmers to combat climate change, they must use the improved varieties of crops. To him, extension officers must assist farmers to always go for the varieties of crops and current methodologies for farming to combat climate change.
The District Coordinating Director, Samuel Badu Baiden together with the District Agriculture Director, Paul Boakye said the purpose of the meeting was to help all stakeholders to know how best they can improve farming in the district.
They expressed gratitude to the institute for honouring their invitation to help address some of the challenges faced by farmers especially within the farming season. They hold that, researchers’ zeal to finding a lasting solution, is a step in a right direction because the government, per some measures exhibited, clearly show that agriculture is at heart.
