By Gideon D. Ebbah,
GNA
Kona (Ash), Aug 07,
GNA – The government has been urged to empower smallholder farmers to embrace
sustainable agriculture as a means of guaranteeing uninterrupted local and
global food supply both for the current and future generations, whiles also
preserving the ecosystem.
Professor Dale Byam,
from the Brooklyn College of the City University of New York in the United
States of America (USA) who made the call, said sustainable agronomic practices
in Ghana, would have the added advantage of a sustained increase in farmers’
incomes and stewardship as well as ensuring climate change mitigation.
The Brooklyn College
Professor is leading a delegation of seven students from the College who are currently in the
country on a study tour, under the ‘2019 Year Group of the Culture and Heritage
Study Abroad Programme’.
Professor Byam, with
expertise in Culture and Development in Africa, was speaking to the Ghana News
Agency on a tour of an experimental 27-acre mixed crop cocoa farm at Kona, a
farming community in the Sekyere South District of Ashanti.
He said one of the
motivations for the farm visit was to enable the students gain insight into the
production and management ethics, inheritance and heritage of cocoa production
in Ghana.
The other aim was to
expose the students to the traditional, organic and sustainable way of farming
in Ghana, especially, the cocoa cash crop, exported to other countries
including the USA.
The Department of
History and Political Science of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and
Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, is the collaborator, which also facilitated the
tour.
The iconic farm,
owned by Mr Agyen Brefo, a 43-year old farmer, is one of the few farms cropped
in sustainable manner over a seven year period, in Ghana.
This farm was also
visited by Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, known to be an ardent advocate
for sustainable farming, when he visited the country in November last year.
In excess of 18.7
acres out of the total land size owned by the farmer, has been planted with
hybrid cocoa plants alongside Odum, Framo and Ciber tress, all important timber
species.
Food crops like
Plantain, Banana, Cocoyam, have also been intercropped with coconut plants on a
1.5 acre land.
Professor Byam said
this approach of farming is linked to the achievement of the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) 12, 13, 14 and 15, and was better than the traditional
approach, which focused only on profit-margins.
Dr Michael Nimoh, An
Associate Labour History and Economics Researcher at the Department of History
and Political Science, KNUST, commended Mr Brefo, for his commitment to
sustainable agriculture.
Mr Brefo who has been
engaged in this type of agriculture with support from the Kuapa Kokoo Farmers
Company Ltd, urged the youth to get involved in farming and disregard the
erroneous perception that farming was reserved for the aged, uneducated and the
poor.
GNA
