Adapt new technologies to increase yield – Farmers advised

Mrs Angel-Mmafiik Ayarick, the Biakoye District Acting Director, Department of Agriculture, has advised farmers to adapt to new technologies as well as good agronomic practices for higher yields.

She said they needed a knowledge-based agriculture to achieve high productivity.

The Biakoye District, historically, was the leading producer of maize in the Oti Region, however, trending dynamics in rainfall pattern, climate change and climate variability had reduced yield in recent times, she said.

To change the trend, there was the need to adapt to new technologies as well as good agronomic practices to help boost productivity by at least 10 per cent annually, Mrs Ayarick said.

She said this at a workshop for some nine farmers and 13 agricultural field officers on modern maize cultivation technologies, supported by Yara Ghana Limited at Tapa-Amanfrom in the Biakoye District of the Oti Region.

Madam Millicent Kabuki Carboo, the District Chief Executive, said in a speech read on her behalf that the Assembly was ready to support farmers to engage in large scale-farming to ensure food security, and appealed to the youth to venture into agriculture.

Mr Newton Tsadzi, Yara Ghana sales rep for Volta Region, said the organisation was sponsoring the programme to strengthen its bond with the farmers.

He said Yara Ghana Ltd did not only sell fertilisers to the farmers but also provided them with technical support to increase crop yields.

Madam Beatrice Ayebea, a participant, who owned a two-acre rice farm, said farming, although paid, came with a high cost of fertiliser and other agrochemicals, which discouraged potential farmers from venturing into it, and called on the Government to subsidize the costs.

The participants were taken through planting distance, weed control, and fertiliser application, among other practices.