New technologies introduced to dry season rice farmers at the Daffiama and Sankana irrigation dams in the Upper West Region have boosted rice production.
The adoptation of the “Feed the Future Ghana Agricultural Technology Transfer (ATT) project’s” Urea Deep Placement (UDP), rice transplanting, the provision certified rice seeds, free fertilizers and planting on rolls technologies had helped increased production compared to the indigenous broadcasting system known to the farmers.
The interventions also allowed more rice to be planted and made weeding and harvesting easier and faster as well as helped to reduce cost and promote maximum utilisation of fertilizer than the traditional broadcasting system.
A plant could develop about 25 to 30 tillers as compared to the traditional method of broadcasting, which produced about 14 tillers.
The project’s goal is to increase the availability of appropriate and affordable technologies to sustainably improve the competitiveness of maize, rice, and soybean value chains in Northern Ghana.
It focused on integrated soil fertility management, seed sector promotion and upscaling of high quality seeds, capacity building in research.
At “Farmers Field Day” at Daffiama in the Daffiama, Bussie, Issa District to evaluate production levels, and benefits of the technologies, the farmers said they were happy with the new innovations introduced to them.
The Field Day brought a number of farmers in the communities to the field to witness the harvesting of the rice, and they expressed interest to participate in the project.
Some of the farmers who interacted with journalists said they were happy with the vigour of the crops and expressed surprise with the high yields.
The farmers promised to put all the 20 hectares irrigable land area into rice cultivation using the technologies.
They however expressed that livestock are destroying the rice and appealed to community members to control the movement of the animals.
The farmers also asked the sponsors of the project to consider fencing the fields to stop stray animals from destroying the crops.
Madam Mabel Bogtege, a rice farmer said at first it was difficult to transplant the rice as that caused her waist pains, but now all had turned to be joy because the quality and quantity of rice on stock is good and beyond her expectation.
“I am going to sell some, keep some as seed and eat the rest”, she said.
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