Ghana to sanitise seed yam industry

By
Stephen Asante, GNA

Fumesua (Ash), June 19, GNA – The Yam
Development Council has reached advanced stage in developing a formal policy
framework to sanitise the Ghanaian seed yam industry.

The major highlights of the framework deal
with regulatory plans on the acquisition and sale of quality seed yam for the
benefit of the farmer.

Dr. Kingsley Osei, a Principal Research
Scientist of the Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific
and Industrial Research, said this was being done as part of the ‘Community
Action in Improving Farmer-Saved Seed Yam (CAY-SEED)’ project.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency
(GNA) at Fumesua, on the sidelines of a dissemination workshop, the Principal
Research Scientist indicated that the final document on the policy framework would
be presented to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) soon.

Dr. Osei, who is Regional Coordinator for the
project, being implemented in Ghana and Nigeria, said the unavailability of
quality seed yam on the market had resulted in the declining yam production and
also contributed significantly to the reduction in farmers’ income since their
yield was affected.

The Principal Research Scientist cited
pathogen infection and plant nematodes damage as major factors to the drop in
yam tuber quality and yield on the field.

“The availability of quality planting
materials would lead to a yield of at least 30 per cent over the current
average yield of 11 tonnes per hectare”, he stated.

Dr Osei said the CRI under the project, was
providing the technical expertise in order to come out with quality planting
materials for increased yam production by small-holder farmers

Ghana produces an average five million tonnes
of yam annually, the second largest production value by any other African
country, apart from Nigeria.

However, agronomic scientists believe this
could be improved given the availability of quality seed yam on the market.

Dr Osei said the CAY-SEED project, commencing
in 2015 in the country, was being implemented in eight yam-growing communities
in the Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo Regions, and has the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation as main sponsor.

The implementing partners include; CRI,
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ministry of Food and
Agriculture, amongst others.

Dr. Stella Ama Ennin, Director of the CRI, in
an opening address, underscored the importance of yam production, stressing
that given the requisite investment and technological advancement, the nation
could create many jobs along the value chain.

She noted that in view of the agronomic
importance of yam, it would not be out of place for government to work closely
with the CRI to develop quality planting materials for the ‘Planting for Food
and Jobs’ programme.

GNA

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