Workshop on roots and tubers open

Nsawam, (E/R), March 30 GNA - A two-day awareness creation workshop on the Root and Tuber Improvement Programme (RTIP) opened on Wednesday at Nsawam in the Akwapim South District.

District Chief Executives, District Co-ordinating Directors, District Directors of Agriculture, farmers and other stakeholders in root and tuber crops production from the sixth zone of the programme are attending.

The Akwapim South, Akwapim North, Birim South and Suhum-Kraboa-Coaltar Districts form the zone. The RTIP, which is being funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Ghana Government, began in 1998 and is expected to end in 2004.

It is aimed at enhancing food security and increasing the incomes of farmers on sustainable basis by facilitating access to new and improved technologies for root and tuber crops production, processing and marketing.

The programme is also expected to develop a sustainable system for the multiplication and distribution of improved planting materials for root and tuber crops in order to increase their availability to small holder farmers.

It will further develop an integrated pest management system to reduce the incidence of diseases and pest in smallholder root and tuber crops systems and collect, evaluate and conserve their germplasm in order to conserve the rich plant bio-diversity of Ghana.

It is expected that about 720,000 farmers would adopt the new improved varieties of cassava, sweet potatoes and cocoyam at the end of the programme. The average crop yield is expected to increase by 40 per cent for cassava and 30 per cent for sweet potatoes. The nutritional status and incomes of rural families would also improve.

In an address read on behalf of the Eastern Regional Minister, Miss Patience Addow, she said she regretted the inadequate research into root and tuber crops, which have been providing food security and income to farmers.

She said farmers engaged in their cultivation face post harvest losses and marketing difficulties and appealed to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) to solve these problems in order to sustain their interest.

Miss Addow charged the Ministry to research into other uses of these crops in order to improve the incomes of farmers. An official from the Food Research Institute of Ghana, Mrs Patience Laweh said the processing of these crops into flour would enhance their nutritional value and food security for the country.