Feature by Bajin D. Pobia
Tono, (UER), Nov 22, – Crop
production in the three regions of the North is faced with several constraints
that adversely affect production and limit productivity.
One constraint is the poor soil
fertility management, which includes the use of low rates of fertilizer, poor
methods of application and outmoded traditional farming practices. Beside this,
the use of bad quality seed and inadequate agricultural practices are resulting
in low yields and poor quality paddy.
Rice farmers traditionally
broadcast fertilizer for top dressing in a split application. Up to 67 per cent
of urea (two bags out of three applied) are lost when broadcast, through
volatilisation, leaching and runoff. The economic costs of this are both direct
loss of input and indirect crop low yields due to insufficient nutrient
availability. Production cost increase without realising a corresponding
increase in productivity.
For this reason, rice farmers
need exposure and training on new rice production methods including; fertilizer
application techniques, use of quality seed and good agricultural practices.
Urea Deep Placement (UDP)
technology is one such important rice producing technologies that has the
potential to increase yields sustainably by an average of 15 – 30 per cent
more.
Since 2014, the Agriculture
Technology Transfer (ATT) Project has introduced the UDP technology to rice
farmers in irrigation schemes in the three Regions of the North.
At Tono and Vea Irrigation
Schemes in the Upper East Region, where the technology is implemented, rice
farmers benefited from demonstrations and learning centres, video shows and
farmer exchange visit to Bobo-Dioulasso, Nissan and Bama Irrigation Schemes in
Burkina Faso as part of efforts to encourage the farmers to embrace the
technology.
This effort has been reinforced
by 2015 AfricaRice intervention through the promotion of the use of quality
rice seed.
The difficulty among farmers in
the Northern parts of Ghana has always been the adoption of new technologies
that had not been part of them. “No matter how much you feed a wolf he will
always return to the forest”.
Farmers fear losing their own
technologies and adopting new technologies, even though many of them are now
aware that the lack of scientific based technologies are limitations to
agricultural production in recent times because of climate change challenges.
And as the saying goes, “He that
is afraid of bad luck will never know well”, rice farmers in Tono and Vea
Schemes have for the beginning of the project been adamant to accepting or
adopting the technologies. However ATT and ICOUR had to collaborate effectively
to promote and scale up the use of UDP to at least 50 per cent of the rice
farmers in the two irrigation schemes.
SENSITISATION
Rice farmers, including local
leaders, were sensitised on the use of UDP technology, quality seed and good
agricultural practices. Women rice transplanters, agro-input dealers and
equipment service providers were also educated on the various activities that
they are expected to carry out to complement the success story of the project.
This effort boosted the demand
for UDP technology resulting in high yields and less use of fertilizer as
demonstrated by the crop budget analysis. Consequently, the demand for labour
saving equipment increased.
Mr. Fusein Arror Abdul-Rahman,
Agronomist with ATT project, said the ATT project's support to rice farmers
during 2017 dry season in Tono and Vea came as a package to beneficiary
farmers.
The package included; the
provision of certified seeds, cost of transplanting seedlings in rows using
proper spacing, field monitoring, timely and appropriate pest, disease and
weeds management and proper fertilizer use.
The Uniqueness of the package is
the urea briquettes, which are placed 7-10cm into the soil between four rice
seedlings 7-10 days after transplanting to improve nitrogen fertilization in
irrigation rice systems. A total of 283 farmers cultivating 440 acres were
reached.
The technology helps to reduce
nitrogen losses through runoff, leaching and volatilisation, and enhances the
availability of nitrogen for the crop, suppresses weeds thereby reducing cost
of weeding while increasing yields and reducing cost of fertilizer.
For the rice crop, this
translated into more tillers (25-30) as compared to about 14 tillers for the
traditional random method of planting
To facilitate the transplanting,
the project trained groups of women transplanters. This created jobs for them
and settled those who were traveling down South to look for job. The
transplanting activity generated a lot of incomes for the women.
Realising the huge advantages of
UDP technology and the gains rice farmers have been making through the adoption
of the technology, rice farmers in the Tono and Vea Irrigation Schemes on their
own this cropping season, willingly adopted the technology without any support
from the ATT Project, with the objective to boost the rice production and
maximize their incomes and livelihoods.
During a second visit to the Tono
Irrigation Scheme in the Upper East Region within the year organised by
Boubakary Cisse (AfricaRice Seed Expert) and Fusein Arror Abdul-Rahman
(Agronomist with ATT project), this writer saw beautiful rice fields with
farmers adopting the ATT project technology. Unlike the first visit where this
writer saw sadness on the faces of several farmers, this time round, booming
smiles coming from the farmers greeted the writer.
The current adoption figures show
that as for Zone J in Tono, all the 184 farmers (163 males and 21 females)
adopted the technology. The average adoption rate is above 80 per cent for the
exposed Zones. The non-exposed Zones’ farmers are also adopting the technology
as the result of their participation to the Field days and spill-over effect.
The fields are promising and
farmers have started counting their blessings and guessing how much they could
reap from their sweat if post-harvest losses are curtailed with urgent
provision of appropriate machinery such as combine harvesters, threshers,
tarpaulin and other important equipment to facilitate easy and fast harvesting
and threshing of rice to help reduce post-harvest losses.
BENEFITS AND TESTIMONIES
Referring to the ATT project
technology and its benefits, a farmer has this to say “Do not be born good or
handsome, but be born lucky”, we are lucky to have had this technology which
has come to stay with us forever. The technology is being transferred to rice
farmers throughout the entire region, including rice farmers at Fumbisi Valleys
and other low land rice farmers outside the schemes.
A young farmer, Mr. Sylvanus
Ayamba told this writer that with the application of the UDP technology changed
the rice to green till harvesting, and yields are good, one hectare producing
about 75 -80 maxi bags instead 50-55 bags, using the random transplanting
methods, with farmers profiting more than 20 bags difference.
“We have been cultivating rice
but, never had we reaped such good yields as it is now and we want to express
our joy and appreciation to ATT and AfricaRice for providing the technology and
improved seeds”, Mr. Ayamba said.
At zone “I” and “J” where much
concentration use of the technology is applied, rice farmers are getting more
yields than before and cost of fertilizer has reduced and less seeds are used
on the fields.
A Lead Farmer, Clement Kansaki at
zone “J” said that the good yields accruing from the fields have attracted more
farmers who earlier on resisted the technology. Many farmers are now interested
and are participating actively in the project.
Some farmers who were adamant to
accepting the technology, visited the fields to see what they turned “lies” but to their surprise, they saw good
yields from the fields and the gains farmers were making, attracted several
youth into rice cultivation and more focused to getting good yields.
It is difficult to adopt
technologies because farmers fear adventuring into new areas they do not know,
but now that the farmers have accepted the technology, the expectations are
that more rice would be produced to feed our nation.
These notwithstanding, the
farmers said threshing the rice with sticks is labour intensive and the poor
will not be able to handle the cost and appealed for more harvesting and
threshing equipment to make the technology to have the fullest impact on the
farmers.
RECOMMENDATIONS
In all of these, this writer
believes that science-based agricultural tools hold great promise for tackling
the Ghana’s growing population and food demands. From improved seeds, to modern
crop production solutions, to making foods fresher, safer, and healthier along
the food chain, the agricultural and food system of the future can be more
productive, more sustainable, more efficient, and more interconnected.
Greater investment in and broader
adoption of science and technology can enable the three regions in the North to
meet the growing demand for food as the population increases, improve the
livelihoods of farmers and their families by producing more and higher quality
crops for a growing and specific market; enhance the nutritional value and
safety of food to improve the health and wellbeing of the people and contribute
to agriculture sustainability through reduced resource use.
While technology has a pivotal
role to play in achieving global food security, overcoming barriers to
acceptance remains difficult. Given the magnitude of our challenge, the
agricultural sector must think beyond single solution approaches to feeding the
people in the North and give farmers the choice and access to all the tools
that can boost productivity safely and sustainably.
Farmers know what is best for
them and their land, and should have the ability to choose the tools and
technologies that are right for them and the markets they serve. Typically,
farmers want access to the tools and technologies that will provide them with the
best chance of increased yields and success.
This writer is of the opinion
that other factors also play a role in agriculture investment. Governance
practices influence the ability of organisations to invest in improved
agriculture in the North.
In addition, the availability of
financing, capital and insurance enable farmers to make longer term investments
in their land. Finally, we will need to support the full array of innovative
solutions that are available to farmers to meet food demand.
GNA
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