Ghana Has Cultivable Lands for Rice -CSIR Soil Research Institute

A Senior Soil Scientist of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR, Dr Eric Adjei says, Ghana does not need to import rice if the country harnesses all her potential to optimize local production.

He said the domestication process must incorporate CSIR technologies for effectiveness and efficiency in dealing with rice production.

The key decisions for this possibility hinge on soil, nutrient and water management. He said the new technology could propel rice yield in Ghana from two tons per hectare to eight tons.

According to the research scientist, local rice breeders are releasing several varieties of the often imported long grain which Ghanaian consumers have taste for. He urges agricultural stakeholders interested in the subject matter of rice farming to identify inland valleys for the cultivation of the crop.

Dr Eric Adjei said, since rice is water-consuming, farms would be most productive if the land is levelled before seeds are planted. According to the scientist, the practice where farmers broadcast seeds without reference to established guidelines, could be counterproductive as this could lead to overcrowded fields, ensuing the unnecessary incidence of plants struggling for nutrients. It is also not proper to use fertilizer bags to buffer water on the unlevel ground as water could flow over and spill the fertilizer in the wrong direction or disproportionately.

The proposed planting regime for rice is a spacing of two centimetres by two centimetres. Once farmers adhere to standard practices, a hectare of rice could fetch five hundred dollars in profits.

Alarm Phone tweeted that it continued to alert authorities but that they “refuse to inform us if any rescue efforts have been undertaken”.

“End this cruel non-assistance,” the group said.

Malta has also not given permission to a commercial cargo ship to rescue the stranded migrants and refugees, the network said.

The Maltese authorities have not immediately responded to requests from the Associated Press news agency for comment on the boat.

‘Children struggling’

One of the migrants’ relatives said his brother told him during their last call on Monday night that more water was leaking into the boat and “that they are drenched”. The man spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for his brother’s safety.

“The adults are handling the cold and lack of supplies okay, but the children are really struggling,” he said.

A Lebanese legislator, Ashraf Rifi, asked Italy to send a rescue team, and called on Lebanon’s foreign ministry and diplomatic mission in Rome to do the same. The Lebanese government has not yet commented on the matter.

Lebanon has become a launching pad for dangerous migration by sea to Europe, as it struggles from an economic crisis over the past three years that has pulled three-quarters of its population into poverty.

As the crisis deepened, more Lebanese, as well as Syrian and Palestinian refugees, have set off to sea, with security agencies reporting foiled migration attempts almost weekly.

Also on Tuesday, a four-year-old girl drowned during the rescue of more than 60 asylum seekers in distress in Maltese waters, the Greek coastguard said. They added that they had been notified by their Maltese counterpart to help airlift her.

The girl had been picked up with another 62 people by an Antigua-flagged cargo ship when their boat ran into trouble at sea. The child and her mother were taken by a Greek navy helicopter to a hospital on Crete, where doctors pronounced her dead.

The cargo ship was also told to reroute. It moored south of Crete with the remaining asylum seekers, whose nationalities were not immediately known.