Place research institutions under their ministries

Kumasi, June 17, GNA - Dr Rexford Asiama, the Director of the Soil Research Institute (SRI) at Kwadaso, has suggested the separation of research institutions under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and placing them under their proper ministries to ensure utilisation of research findings. He said the placement of these research institutions under their proper ministries would not only promote prompt attention of research findings but would also ensure effective monitoring and evaluation of research applications in the ministries.

Dr Asiama made the suggestion at a staff durbar organised by workers of SRI to welcome Mr Ernest Akubuor Debrah, Minister of Food and Agriculture on Wednesday. The Minister's visit to the Institute formed part of his three-day tour of the Ashanti Region.

Dr Asiama said the current situation whereby all the research institutions had been grouped under the CSRI and placed under one ministry made them far remote from their direct beneficiaries. He said research findings were often not applied because most ministries, which were the direct beneficiaries, might not be aware of the existence of such findings and how to apply them to their benefit. ''The integration of the research institutions into their respective ministries would also enable the institutions receive support to carry on with their research activities.''

Mr Debrah said soil played a pivotal role in agriculture and there was the need to encourage soil scientists to identify the proper utilisation of various soil types to benefit farmers. He said the modernisation of agriculture to improve food security required collaboration between scientists and farmers to ensure that research findings were made available and utilised by farmers. Mr Debrah appealed to scientists and researchers to move a further step to the field to enable farmers to benefit from their expertise to increase food production.