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Mr Amenga (left), acting Bono Regional Director of Agriculture, inspecting a maize farm under the Planting for Food and Jobs programme
Mr Amenga (left), acting Bono Regional Director of Agriculture, inspecting a maize farm under the Planting for Food and Jobs programme

Developing food basket: Bono aggressively implements 5 agric modules

The Bono Regional Department of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) is aggressively implementing five different agriculture modules under the government’s flagship programmes to make the region a hub of commercial agriculture and agribusiness.

The motive of the regional directorate of MoFA is to make the region the food basket of the country.

The modules include food crops (Planting for Food and Jobs - PFJ), livestock (Rearing for Food and Jobs - RFJ), tree crops (Planting for Export and Rural Development - PERD), mechanisation and horticulture (Greenhouse Villages).

So far, the regional MoFA has enrolled thousands of farmers under each module and assisted the beneficiaries to practise best agricultural practices to help increase their yields.

The region has a total land size of 11,107 square kilometres, representing five per cent of Ghana's territorial land, and has 361,979 estimated farmer population made up of 183,885 males and 178,094 females.

Major food crops being produced are maize, cassava, yam, plantain, cocoyam and rice, which are predominantly produced by women in the region.

Currently, there are a total of 175 Agriculture Extension Agents (AEAs) comprising 139 males and 36 females assisting farmers to adopt best agriculture practices.

Food crops

Statistics available from MoFA indicate that the food crops module, which is PFJ, has so far registered 6,382 farmers made up of 5,004 males and 1,378 females.

They consist of 5,320 maize farmers, 862 rice farmers, 90 tomato farmers, 14 onion farmers and 96 carrot farmers.Bags of maize being carted to the market for sale

In addition, MoFA’s Bono Regional Office has identified 158 valleys which have the potential for rice production and is currently working to develop the areas for rice farmers.

The department has so far received 40,221 bags of fertiliser, including N.P.K, urea, granular and liquid and compost, and has distributed 19,038 bags to 3,327 beneficiaries made up of 2,559 males and 768 females.

Tree crops, livestock

Under the PERD, the region has raised 240,000 different kinds of improved tree seedlings and distributed 196,800 to 1,399 farmers at the district level.

Statistics indicate that more farmers in the region have ventured into cashew and mango plantations than coconut, coffee and oil palm production. More than 13,022 hectares have so far been cultivated in the region.

Under the RFJ, a total of 3,810 cockerels have been distributed to 352 farmers comprising 233 males and 119 females in six districts, namely Berekum West, Jaman South, Jaman North, Banda, Tain and Dormaa West.

In addition, 200 beneficiaries have been registered to venture into an improved method of rearing pigs known as Indigenous micro-organism (IMO) technology aimed at reducing the stench from pigsties and encouraging pig rearing within communities.

• A farmer attending to his birds at a poultry farm under the Rearing for Food and Jobs module

The technology is being introduced by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Agricultural Research Institute (ARI), where saw dust is used on the floor of the structures to reduce stench.

Bright future

The acting Regional Director of Agriculture, Mr Denis Abugri Amenga, told the Daily Graphic that the future of agriculture in the region was bright, following the heavy investment and high participation of farmers into the various modules.

He said the region was poised to implement various government flagship programmes to improve food security, explaining that several educational programmes such as the promotion of rice production among women had been carried out.

He said under the mechanisation module, the government had distributed about 37 threshers to Farmer-Based Organisations (FBO) to thresh harvested rice.

On veterinary services, he called on the government to help increase veterinary staff in the region to enable them to render efficient services to farmers.

Mr Amenga said a collaborative research project between the Animal Production Directorate (APD) and University of Ghana was ongoing to help improve poultry genetics in the country, adding that 54 farmers had already been selected for the commencement of the project in the region.

On the tree crop plantations, Mr Amenga said the Tree Crop Development Authority was expected to supply 10,000 mango seedlings to farmers with other collaborators, including the Ghana Productivity Safety Net Programme (GPSNP) and the International Organisation on Migration (IOM).

Climate change

The gains made notwithstanding, Mr Amenga explained that some farmers had suffered the effects of climate change, explaining that some of them had to embark on second planting, which had reduced crop yields.

He said even though the year 2021 started with good prospects with the onset of rains as early as February, the weather conditions changed with the cessation of the rains between March and end of May.

Cashew seedlings ready for transplant under the Planting for Export and Rural Development

According to Mr Amenga, the inception of the major season for crop production had been deceptive for most parts of the region and explained that the condition had resulted in low patronage and use of PFJ seeds and fertilisers.

He said last year, the price of maize catapulted, which affected most poultry farmers, resulting in the increase in egg prices and the disposal of live birds.

Mr Amenga mentioned inadequate logistics such as motorbikes, the lack of a well-equipped poultry laboratory, poultry feed mills, formal irrigation facilities to ensure year-round crop production and the lack of adequate office accommodation for some districts as some of the challenges facing the department in the region.

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