By Anthony Apubeo, GNA
Manga (U/E), Oct. 8, GNA – Framers in the
Bawku West and Binduri districts, whose farms were destroyed by floods, have
been given new variety of cowpeas to cultivate to make up for the loss.
The farmers, who numbered about 200 and farm
along the White Volta catchments in the Upper East Region, were supported to
use the residual moistures in the area to cultivate the two varieties of
cowpeas – Kirkhouse Benga and Wang Kae – for this year’s dry season.
The two new varieties were released two years
ago by a group of research scientists from the Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research – Savanna Agriculture Research Institute (CSIR-SARI) and
approved by the National Varietal Release, and Registration Committee of the Ministry
of Food and Agriculture.
The varieties have been certified by the
mandated institutions for farmers.
The Research Scientists were led by Dr Francis
Kusi, a Senior Research Fellow at the CSIR-SARI in charge of the Manga Station,
who explained that the new cowpea varieties have the greatest potentials of
thriving in residual moisture areas and were resistant to strigas, drought,
root knots, and parasitic weeds with a maturity period of three months.
Dr Kusi said the project, which was funded by
the “Kirkhouse Trust SCIO,” based in the United Kingdom, had already trained
many certified seed producers in the area who had in stock the new cowpea
varieties for sale at moderate cost.
He said the object of introducing the affected
farmers to the new variety was to help make up for their loss and increase food
security while improving upon their livelihoods.
He said the demand for cowpeas was very high
as many institutions, including the senior high schools, the School Feeding
Programme, Ghana Prisons Service and many households relied on it for food and
protein.
Dr Kusi encouraged the farmers to take
advantage of the high demand of the crop to empower themselves economically.
He said his outfit had instituted measures to
link farmers who would be farming the crops to marketing outlets for good
prices and called on smallholder farmers to cultivate the crop.
Dr Kusi, who stated that the land around the
White Volta was very rich in nutrients and suitable for the growing of the new
cowpea varieties, said the varieties often produced large pods with lots of
seeds.
Mr Ariku Martin Akudugu, the 2016 National
Best Farmer, who has 1,375 out grower farmers and community seed producer of
the new cowpea varieties among other seeds, encouraged the farmers to take
advantage of the opportunity to overcome the challenges of food security.
Mr Elias Atambire, the District Director of
MOFA, in charge of Bawku West, said the floods this year destroyed about 800
hectres of farm produce in the District, which was made up of maize, rice and
sorghum along the White Volta and expressed optimism that the intervention
would help salvage the farmers plight.
GNA