A fertilizer producing company, OCP Africa is collaborating with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to help improve yields of farmers in the Ashanti region.
This project which has begun in some parts of the country including the Eastern, Bono East and the Upper East regions, is set to introduce farmers especially those in rural communities to modern practices to help increase their yields.
Launching the OCP Africa School Lab in Ejura in the Ashanti region, the country manager of OCP Africa, Samuel Oduro Asare, noted that “it is aimed at bringing the latest soil testing innovation and effective agronomic training to serve farmers”.
He further stated that their initiative is to support government as it seeks to introduce farmers to modern forms of fertilizer application across the country.
“It is also part of the contribution of OCP Africa to support the Ministry of Agriculture in their quest to depart from the blanket application of fertilizers in Ghana to a more crop and agroecology zone-specific fertilizer recommendation and application rate.”
On his part, the Deputy Director at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in charge of crop services, Solomon Gyan Ansah charged farmers to take advantage of government’s planting for food and jobs and planting for Exports and Rural Development initiatives to help improve their yields and improve the agricultural sector and the Ghanaian economy as a whole.
He stated that the planting for food and jobs campaign, for instance, is to ensure immediate availability of food and provide the raw material base for the country to improve productivity.
He says the partnership with OCP Africa, a fertilizer producing company would be helpful in developing agriculture in the Ejura- Sekyere Dumase municipality and Ghana as a whole by testing the soil before prescribing what should be done to improve their earnings.
Meanwhile, farmers at Ejura and its surrounding communities say they do not get access to available markets although government’s agricultural interventions and private sector involvements have led to improved yields.
According to them, they want challenges with getting access to markets to be critically looked at.
Reacting to the concerns raised by the farmers, the Municipal Chief Executive for the area, Salisu Bamba in a Citi News interview urged the farmers to engage with trading companies in the municipality to avoid being shortchanged by other buyers.
On his part, Solomon Gyan Ansah, Deputy Director at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture at the Directorate of Crop Services, advised farmers to have strong marketing plans to know where to sell their farm produce even before venturing into their farming activities in order to be at par with modern trends in farming.