Senior Lecturer at the Department of Agricultural Engineering, University of Cape Coast (UCC), Professor Ransford Opoku Darko, says the country must shift its focus onto aggressive irrigation development to ensure improved productivity and food security.He said irrigation remained one of the key technologies for sustained agriculture and its continuous neglect in Ghana remained a major threat to food security of the country.Prof.
Darko made the call at a day's sensitisation workshop for selected farmers in the Kommenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem Municipality of the Central region.The workshop was on the theme: 'Building capacity for sustainable practices,' and focused on strengthening the capacity of the beneficiary farmers, improving livelihoods and adding value to their produce.The programme is part of a four-year project on "Revenue Diversification Pathways in Africa through Bio-based and Circular Agricultural Innovations (DIVAGRI)" launched in 2021 with funding from the European Union.It aims to increase productivity, explore more income streams, and create economic opportunities for subsistence and smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa by implementing state-of-the-art bio-based innovation.The participants were sensitised to issues such as farm business records keeping, techniques for sustainable irrigation, and intercropping.Prof.
Darko underscored the need for stakeholders within the agricultural sector to champion the promotion of irrigation among farmers in the country to derive the needed benefits in ensuring food security.He also explained that irrigation had been identified as one of the key technologies that could boost food security in the face of declining agricultural lands.Furthermore, Prof.
Darko indicated that irrigation offered an opportunity to farmers across the country to farm throughout the year, increase income and improve their livelihood.He then urged the farmers to patronise the technology to contribute to food production and ensure food security, especially in a period where the rainfall pattern had changed.Dr Francis Kumi, a senior lecturer at the Department of Agricultural and Mechanical Engineering at UCC, also elaborated that accurate record-keeping was fundamental to good farm management.According to him, when farmers had comprehensive records, they could monitor all the inputs and outputs of their farm, which helps farmers to keep track of the costs and assess their productivity."For example, you'll know exactly when you last fertilised your fields or how much water your crops received.
