Grass-cutter farmers urged to increase production

Dr. Emmanuel Adu, Deputy Director of the Animal Research Institute under the Centre for Scientific Research (CSR) of the University of Ghana, has urged grass-cutter farmers to use advanced techniques to increase production for the market.

He said the grass-cutter meat had high nutritional value with high patronage if it was properly processed for sale and therefore urged the farmers to expand their farms to increase production for the Ghanaian market.

Dr Adu was speaking at a four-day training workshop on grass-cutter rearing for some selected grass-cutter farmers from the Birim Central and Kwahu West Municipalities and Kwahu South District at Nkawkaw.

He advised the farmers to ensure proper feeding of their animals, emphasizing that they should avoid giving them more cassava and sugarcane but rather adequate water to enhance their growth.

Mr Christopher Tudeka, a Senior Research fellow at the College of Agriculture, Livestock and Poultry Centre of the University of Ghana, also urged the farmers to keep proper records to enable them to assess efficiency and productivity to increase profit.

He advised them to take inventory of all their products such as cages, stock of grass-cutters, equipment and other structures to determine their investment in their projects.

The Eastern Regional Chairman of the Grass-Cutter Farmers Association (ERGFA), Mr Kwame Ampim, called on government agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to invest in the grass-cutter business to expand production.

The workshop was organized by the Skills Development Fund (SDF) with support from the Government of Ghana, the World Bank and the African Development Bank (ADB).

Its objective was to train and educate grass-cutter farmers on techniques and improved methods of rearing the grass-cutter for mass production.

The farmers were taken through topics like reproduction and reproductive management, nutrition and feeding, handling techniques, construction of cage, mating techniques and health management.