Tamale, March 25, – Stakeholders
have met to review activities of the Tropical Legumes III Project and finalise
the country work plan and seed road map for this year, in resonance to the
country’s legumes strategies.
The Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research – Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (CSIR – SARI) is
collaborating with the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid
Tropics among other stakeholders to implement the project, with funding from
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Tropical Legumes III Project
aims at developing sustainable legume seed systems leading to increase in
groundnut and cowpea production by smallholder farmers.
It has been implemented in
selected communities in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions since
2015 and would end in 2018.
Mr Haruna Mohammed, a Research
Scientist at CSIR-SARI, said the Project had enhanced the production of cowpea
in drought-prone areas of sub-Saharan Africa in four countries; Ghana, Mail,
Burkina Faso and Nigeria.
The Project, he said, had reduced
poverty as well as improved food security among smallholder farmers, especially
on cowpea and groundnut.
Dr Julius Yirzagla, an Agronomist
at CSIR-SARI, assured the farmers that there would be abundant groundnut and
cowpea seeds during the crop season this year, and urged them to use the seeds
to increase their yield.
Dr Roger Kanton, the Deputy
Director of CSIR-SARI, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said cowpea
and groundnut production had improved within the past few years as a result of
the project.
He urged the Government and
stakeholders to promote cowpea and groundnut production in the country.
GNA
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