Project increases yields of leguminous crops

Increasing yields of leguminous crops is a critical component of reducing issues of poverty in the rural communities, and increasing their income levels and nutritional values to ensure food security in Ghana.

For this reason, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), through the N2 Africa Project, which is being financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, have been engaged in looking at how best to put nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in the Upper West Region.

The project which is receiving technical support from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), is targeted at linking the protein needs of poor African farmers directly to massive atmospheric nitrogen reserves, and providing them with new income generating crop production enterprises.

Professor Samuel Adjei-Nsiah, Country Coordinator, N2 Africa Project, said during a farmers’ field day at Fian that the project was into the production and promotion of three grain legumes, including soybean, cowpea and groundnuts.

He said the project was helping farmers to practise renewable soil fertility management, and adopt profitable new farm technologies and value added enterprises.

Prof. Adjei-Nsiah stated that in Northern Ghana leguminous crops were very important to improving household incomes, especially among women, but that yields were however low, hence, the focus of the project to disseminate high yielding varieties that would help improve their yields.

He said the 20-million dollar project was being implemented in five African countries; three of which were in West Africa, with the remaining two in East Africa.

The N2 Africa Project Country Co-ordinator said, the project had more women than men, because in Northern Ghana, women were more into the production of leguminous crops than their male counterparts.

Mr. David Wawula, Nadowli-Kaleo District Director of MoFA said, the project enjoyed high level of participation, especially by women, because they were eager to learn the best practices at the demonstration fields, so they could apply it in their own farms to increase yields.

Mr. Salifu Mahama, District Schedule Officer, Department of Agric, Nadowli, said the N2 Africa Project was meeting its technology outreach objectives through demonstration and adaptation trials.