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Wa, Ghana – Smallholder farmers in the Upper West Region are expected to increase sorghum yield from 1.75 metric tons to 4 metric tons per hectare, which is expected to produce a total of 8,000 metric tons per production season.
This expected increase will decrease the high demand for the produce for domestic and industrial use for the preparation of beer and other local drinks such as pito.
This was made known by the Managing Director of Agriaccess Ghana Limited, Anthony Poore at a stakeholder engagement conference at Wa in the Upper West Region.
The conference was on the theme: “Sustainable Agriculture through Irrigation: Using Borehole and Micro- drip Technology”.
Mr. Poore said, Agriaccess Ghana Ltd was going to supply farm inputs to farmers and facilitate their access to farm machinery, warehousing and post-harvest management facilities.
“We will also disseminate new technologies through research and training to farmers in the region”, he emphasised.
Mr. Poore also noted that, Agriaccess is serving as a financial intermediary to farmers thereby facilitating their access to credit from financial institutions to enable them produce more sorghum.
According to him, the company will increase farmer support to 6,000 farmers per season and provide inputs for 6,000 hectares of land.
The General Manager for Agriaccess Ghana Ltd, Prosper Achulo Saaka, indicated that with the low yield of sorghum characterized by erratic and poor distribution of rain, the company is introducing borehole and micro-drip irrigation system to farmers to enable them produce sorghum three times a year.
“This is a technology we borrowed from knowledge partners in India to increase sorghum production”, he added.
Mr. Saaka said, the new Irrigation system is economical in water use and cost effective as the farmer will not need more hands in the farm for watering.
He said, the system does not require any formal education, therefore, any farmer can use it.
He took participants of the conference to the pilot Irrigation project site at Kumfaabiela, a suburb of Wa Municipal to explain the theory behind it.
In an interview with a Business farmer, John Mulnye, he said, the borehole and micro-drip Irrigation idea is the best for smallholder farmers as it will allow them to crop three times a year.
By Savannahnewsonline.com
