SARI develops new millet varieties for farmers
FIve new varieties of millet have been developed by the Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for farmers in the three regions of northern Ghana to boost the production of the crop.
Advertisement
The improved millet varieties, which are bird resistance, highly nutritious and contain essential elements such as iron and zinc, were developed with support from the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP).
The new varieties, which have been named “Akad-kom”, “Kanaati”, “Naad-Kohblug”, “WAAPP Nara” and “Afribeh Nara”, were all released by SARI in the latter part of last year for planting by farmers after approval by the Varietal Release Committee of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture under the WAAPP Phase II.
Millet
The Coordinator for CSIR-SARI-WAAPP, Dr Roger Kanton, told the Daily Graphic that the WAAPP was being implemented by SARI in the three northern regions.
He said the millet varieties were the first to be released and made available to farmers for planting since the 1950s.
The old millet variety which farmers have been using for the past 66 years, called “Manga Nara”, was developed by a British breeder in the 1950s.
The new varieties are expected to help farmers increase their yields and incomes.
Rice/Sorghum
Touching on other successes chalked up under the WAAPP Phase II project, Dr Kanton said SARI also released four new maize varieties to farmers last year which were high yielding, drought tolerant and striga resistance.
“Additionally, SARI is working on a root and tuber crop called ‘Frafra potato’ which it hopes to introduce this year,” he said.
He said it had also planned the release of eight new high-yielding rice and two sorghum varieties this year and 2017, respectively, to farmers to plant.
Dr Kanton said SARI was working with all the districts in the three northern regions to reach about 700,000 direct and indirect beneficiaries with new technologies.
Dr Kanton noted that Ghana had the potential to grow food to feed itself, keep the surplus and export some, without importing, if the government supported farmers with inputs, including fertiliser.
He suggested that the government set aside just one per cent of the national oil revenue to support agriculture in the country through fertiliser subsidy to farmers.
The Communications Officer of WAAPP, Mr Emmanuel Alorigiya, on his part, said the WAAPP was a sub-regional programme being implemented in 13-member states of ECOWAS.