Gov't attitude towards innovation discouraging - Bobobee

Government has been slammed over the lukewarm attitude towards applied research and innovation in Ghana.

The situation, according to Prof. Emmanuel Y.H Bobobee of the Department of Agricultural and Engineering at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology "is very discouraging and disheartening".

He said the Ghanaian government’s attitude towards applied research and innovation over the years has been demoralising.

Prof. Bobobee said this during the 9th Annual International Applied Research Conference organized by Koforidua Polytechnic on Wednesday.

Prof. Bobobee who has developed TEK Mechanical Cassava Harvester to mechanically assist farmers harvest roots and tuber crops in commercial quantity lamented that the government has failed to support local innovations.

He said the TEK Cassava harvester is capable of encouraging the cultivation of the drought resistant crop which has multi-purpose importance.

According to him, government has failed to support the innovation, despite efforts to catch its attention.

Speaking to Starr News after a presentation, Prof. Bobobee stated that “the bad thing is that government has got a loan from Brazilian government and rather now importing cassava harvester from South Africa. This means that there will be no market for the one we have developed with indigenous input and this is one very bad practice that kill the interest of anybody to solve national problem.”

He added: “If they have desire to promote cassava, they should have given the money to KNUST to produce the cassava harvester to encourage other researchers and inventors in the country.”

The rector of Koforidua Polytechnic, Prof. Smile Gavua Dzisi, stated that the annual conference aims at synchronizing applied research, exchanging ideas with industries and showcasing innovations and inventions of the Polytechnic.

She said the institution has invented palm kernel oil powered automobile machine, fufu pounding machine, electronic voting system among many others.