Shai Osudoku RELC meeting identifies fall army worms as major threat to farmers

Farms across the Shai Osudoku District in the Greater Accra Region continue to be devastated by the invasion of fall armyworms, a pest that is causing huge damage to crops across the continent and threatening food security.

The pests are said to be destroying hectares of maize farms in the district this year despite several interventions put in place to curb its activities.

This came to light during the annual District Research Extension Linkage Committee (RELC) meeting by the Shai Osudoku Department of Agriculture with various stakeholders in the food value chain held at the Shai Osudoku District Assembly.

Deputy Director of Agriculture at the Shai Osudoku Department of Agric, Mr. Jonathan Nartey who facilitated the program identified the invasion of farms by the fall army worms as the biggest challenge confronting farmers in the district.

To curb the problem, the director said he has tasked the various extension agents to hold two demonstrations on the fall army worms to determine which chemical was best suited to contain the pests as well as the appropriate timing for the application of the chemicals.

Mr. Nartey who expressed regret at the mass destruction of maize farms by the pests in 2020 was confident that trials of different chemicals on various farms would help solve the army worm challenge.

Though complaints of destructive weeds was identified as another challenge confronting rice farmers in the district during the 2019 RELC meeting with the issue forwarded to the research team in Accra to work around the clock to find a solution to it, the deputy director said the district had still not received any response from the authorities.

This situation has invariably reduced rice production in the district as the weeds compete with the rice, resulting in low yields.

The RELC engagement brought together various stakeholders including farmers, processors, market women, marketers, extension agents, Farmer Based Organizations (FBOs), farm machinery operators, physically challenged farmers, officials of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Greater Accra Regional Department of Agric, etc. to formulate programs to run agricultural activities in the district over the next year.

The meeting afforded various stakeholders the opportunity to share their challenges, problems and concerns with the agric dept. researchers and policy makers who'll prioritize the challenges in a bid to address them.

Officials described the meeting as a 'bottom up' approach towards formulating policies in the implementation of agricultural activities.

The meeting as part of its activities on the day also reviewed activities over the past year relative to the 2019 RELC meeting where combating the fall army worm emerged as the biggest issue confronting farmers.

The Deputy Director of Agric said a lot was done since the last RELC meeting to curb the various issues raised.

He expressed satisfaction at the outcome of the meeting with the optimism that various stakeholders including policy makers, researchers as well as the DOA will play their respective roles to ensure that the challenges articulated by the farmers are addressed.

Two rice farmers, Evans Aboagye and Mustapha Abdallah who spoke in an interview corroborated the Deputy Director’s assertion that the army worms and destructive weeds remain the biggest threats and called on the Shai Osudoku District Assembly to formulate policies to address the myriad of challenges disclosed by the farmers.

They commended the team for curbing some of the challenges discussed in the last meeting and urged them to resolve the outstanding challenges that couldn't be resolved alongside the new ones articulated by the farmers.

Other challenges facing farmers in the district include inadequate veterinary clinics and officers, lack of processing and storage facilities, lack of market standardization especially for okro and tomato farmers, lack of a slaughterhouse, the prevalence of fake chemicals, amongst other challenges.

Mr. Nicholas Addae, Greater Accra Regional extension officer co-facilitated the meeting.