Thirteen greenhouse agric projects for Ashanti Region
Ashanti Region is to benefit from 13 greenhouse vegetable agricultural projects. This is out of the 150 of such projects earmarked for the country under the West African Agricultural Productivity Programme.
Advertisement
The project is aimed at filling the yawning gap in the production of vegetables for both local and the international market.
It involves the cultivation of vegetables in an enclosed environment (in a net) to prevent pest and disease infestation.
The provision of water, fertiliser and heat is regulated under the scheme which helps the crops fight pest and diseases.
The Ashanti Regional Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Mr Kwaku Mintah Forjour, who disclosed this to Graphic Business, explained that the project had commenced already and involved 13 farmer groups and agricultural research stations in the region.
Beneficiaries
Other beneficiaries include vegetable farmers in Gyinyasi and Ahinsan both in the Kumasi Metropolis and other vegetable growers in the region.
The Regional Director stated that the project, which was on a pilot basis, is being supervised by the Ashanti Region office of MOFA while Dizengoff Ghana would provide the needed technical support as well as the equipment.
He added that the Greenhouse initiative, which is not new in the country, had proven to be very cost effective and highly efficient with high yielding results.
Prior to this project, there had already been greenhouse demonstration farms at the Kwadaso Agricultural College, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Horticulture Department demonstration farms, a private farm at Asokore Mampong and the Asante-Mampong Research Station.
More of project
The Ashanti and Brong Ahafo Regional Branch Manager of Dizengoff Ghana, Mr Naphtali K. Gyempeh, said the project would ensure a year-round production of vegetables in the country.
This, according to him, would not only create more jobs but would also improve the nation’s economic fortunes as productivity both at the local and international levels would be boosted.
He said for a start, all the beneficiary farmers would be trained by Dizengoff to enable them to operate and get the best of yields from the project.
Mr Forjour challenged Ghanaian farmers to embrace the greenhouse initiative since the benefits to the individual and the nation were very enormous.
Mr Gyempeh stated that in the past, vegetable farmers in the country depended on rain-fed agriculture and had to contend with diseases, pest invasion, bad weather which, in the long run, affected incomes of the farmers as well as national productivity.
The initiative would lead to the provision of the best quality organic vegetables for both the local and international markets.