Farmers advised against the use of pesticides

Ve-Koloenu (V/R), April 13, GNA - Mr Mozart Adevu, National Chairman of the Ecumenical Association for Sustaining Agriculture and Rural Development (ECASARD), on Wednesday advised vegetable farmers to adopt organic pest control methods instead of pesticides to spray their crops.

He gave the advice at the passing-out ceremony for 19 farmers who underwent a five-month training programme in integrated pest management at Ve-Koloenu in the Hohoe District.

It was organised by Escard, a non-governmental organisation, in collaboration with the Evangelical Presbyterian (EP) Church, Ghana. Mr Adevu said the organic pest control method is less expensive and environmentally friendly and poses no health risks to farmers and consumers.

He, therefore, appealed to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture MOFA to give prominence to organic agricultural practices, predicting that in the next 10-20 years, there would be greater demand for organic food crops as opposed to genetically manipulated agricultural produce.

Mr Adevu said about 5,000 farmers in the United States of America have already shifted to organic agriculture on over 200,000 hectares of farmlands while farmers in the European Union are also cultivating about three million hectares of farms using organic methods.

Mr Willie Laate, national co-ordinator of IPM, said Escard is a network of over 60 organisations which aims at bridging the gap between organic and conventional farming practices for sustainable agricultural development.

He said it is also assisting farmers in the Volta, Eastern and Greater Accra Regions to form co-operative pilot schemes based on IPM concepts. He urged the farmers, chiefs and elders to educate the communities on the harmful effects of continuous use of fertilisers on the soil.

Mr Christopher Afenyo, Hohoe District Development Planning Officer, asked farmers in the District to take advantage of government's credit schemes for increased agricultural production.

Mr Samuel Dzebu, Hohoe District Director of MOFA, said the ministry would soon organise a national programme on IPM to sensitise farmers on the need to change to organic farming towards sustainable food security.

He advised farmers to settle their loans with the district assemblies to enable others to benefit from such schemes. Meanwhile, results from four demonstration plots during the five-month training period indicated that vegetables that were grown with organic manure and neem tree leaves solution as pesticides had very good yields.

This was in contrast with yields from other plots that used inorganic fertiliser and neem leaves solution, inorganic fertiliser alone and non-application of either organic or inorganic fertilisers.