Make quality protein maize available to farmers - Minister

Fumesua (Ash), Aug. 4, GNA - Major Courage Quashigah (rtd), Minister of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), has called on the West and Central Africa Maize Network (WECAMAN) to make Quality Protein Maize (QPM) available to farmers and consumers in Ghana and in all other African countries.

He noted that the QPM varieties have high levels of the two essential amino acids and could contribute significantly to the alleviation of malnutrition in maize consuming communities in Africa. Maj. Quashigah made the call in a speech read on his behalf at the opening of a two-week training workshop on quality protein maize development and seed delivery systems at Fumesua in the Ejisu-Juaben district on Monday.

The workshop is being organised jointly by Sasakawa Global 2000, Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria, WECAMAN and West African Seed Network.

Participants were from Ghana, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Guinea and Mali.

The Minister said the ministry would collaborate with the relevant organisations in the use of QPM and in the formulation of feeds for livestock and poultry, particularly at the community levels. He asked the staff of both MOFA and the Ministry of Health (MOH) to combine efforts to vigorously promote the production and utilisation of the QPM varieties to help alleviate the suffering of the people of Africa.

Dr Robert Asiedu, a representative of the Director-General of IITA, expressed the hope that various governments in the sub-region would continue to contribute additional finances to sustain the collaborative maize research in the region.

He said the future technical challenges of WECAMAN included, not only the sustenance of the generation of new technologies and training but also increased emphasis on the development of effective community-based seed production and marketing systems.

Professor Emmanuel Owusu-Bennoah, acting Director-General of the CSIR, said under the Research Component of Agriculture Services Sub-Sector Improvement Programme (AgSSIP), a World Bank facility of 600 million cedis had been earmarked to support the development of high iron QPM for enhanced nutrition in Ghana.

Dr Marco Quinones, Sasakawa 2000 African Region Director, said his organisation had been supporting QPM development and popularisation in South Saharan African to reduce hunger, under nutrition and poverty. "We are very much concerned in addressing the issue of nutrition for the children who are the future of this continent, without healthy children of today, Africa has no future". 04 Aug. 03