Farmers urged to adopt practices to withstand climate change

Farmers have been advised to adopt various farming practices to enable them live above the devastating effects of climate change.

Mr. Kwamena Ato Arkorful, Tamale Metropolitan Director of Agriculture of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), said climate change had had serious negative effects on agricultural activities globally to the extent that farmers could no longer predict the weather and therefore could not plant appropriately.

He explained that because of climate change effects, the rains come unexpectedly while farmers were left to the mercy of the weather, adding that last year, farmers needed only two rains in the Northern Region to get bumper harvest but the rains failed them resulting in poor harvest and losses.

Mr. Arkorful, who on Thursday was at Dalun speaking at the launch of Farm Radio International programme on climate change adaptation, indicated that steps were being taken from the scientific and practical agricultural levels to be able to deal with climate change issues in the county.

Farm Radio International, an NGO with funding from GIZ is implementing a programme using Simli Radio, a community radio station based in Dalun in the Tolon/Kumbungu District to transmit qualitative information on climate change to influence farmers in the catchment area on the best practices to achieve results.

Mr. Arkorful assured that there were many programmes being developed by the MOFA to deal with issues about climate change and urged farmers to cooperate and adopt the new innovation that would increase their production and minimize losses.

Mr. Benjamin Fiafor, Regional Field Manager of Farm Radio International, noted that the programme would disseminate needed information about climate change on the radio for 20 weeks and give opportunity to farmers to contribute on air, adding that “This is a pilot project and its impact would be continued”.

He said the programme would draw experts from diverse backgrounds to discuss topical issues relating to climate change and invite farmers to contribute to the programme to make it more interactive and whip their interest to change their behavior towards the subject matter.

Mr. Fiafor said issues about the daily weather conditions would be provided on the programme to guide the farmers to know what to do at any material moment.

Madam Anna Weber, Northern Regional Coordinator of Market Oriented Agriculture Programme of GIZ, noted that its interest in the field of agriculture spanned among farmers, marketers and input dealers and how best each of these value chain contributors could maximize their chances to increase production.

She said farmer’s capacities would be built in such activities which would go a long way to increase the food security needs of the country.

Mr. Romanus Gyang, Adaptation Learning Programme Project Manager of CARE International, said her organization was already implementing similar programme on climate change and was yielding fruitful results and stressed on the need for the two institutions to strengthen their collaborations to impact positively on the needs of the farmer.**