Farmers Urged to Adopt Smart Farming Methods to Boost Productivity
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for La Nkwantanang-Madina Municipal Assembly, Mrs Jennifer Dede Adjabeng has urged farmers to consider adopting smart farming approaches to improve productivity and ensure effective utilization of the prevailing trend of limited farmland.
She said, this has become even more essential in view of the continuous loss of farmlands to Real Estate Developers. The MCE gave the advice in a speech at the 39th National Farmers Day Celebration held at Oyarifa Presby School Park, Oyarifa in Accra on Friday, December 1, 2023.
It was on the theme “Delivering smart solutions for sustainable food security and resilience”.
According to her, challenges to food and nutrition security in Ghana include rapid urbanization and population growth, climate change, poverty among others.
“There is therefore the need to harness the power of innovation and technology through smart farming to improve production and analysis that would lead to increase”, she said.
Smart farming, she said, incorporates information and communication into machinery, equipment and sensors used in agricultural production.
Mrs Adjabeng said smart farming tools which introduce new level of technology into agriculture has the potential to reduce the impact of increasingly scarce farm labour, intensifying climate change and diminishing earth resources and biodiversity.
She said government commitment to the agricultural sector through the implementation of the Planting for Food and Jobs programme as well as other supporting programmes continue to produce positive outcome.
She indicated that agriculture continues to contribute a lot to the local economy of the municipality.
Mrs Adjabeng said the Department of Agriculture under the Modernizing Agriculture in Ghana project has this year been able to promote poultry and vegetable production, improve farm and home visits by extension staff, and undertake disease surveillance among others.
She mentioned that with support from IGF, the department of agriculture trained 20 youth in aquaculture production adding that the assembly would provide start up packages comprising of cages, fingerlings, and feed to the beneficiaries of the training programme.
In a welcome address, the Municipal Director of Agriculture, Madam Lydia Aku Fiatuho said to address the issue of unemployment and post- harvest losses in the municipality, the department was able to train 52 people made up of 14 males and 38 females on soya beans and orange flesh sweet potato utilization and value addition.
In promoting aquaculture within the municipality, she said the assembly supported the department to train 20 youth, made up of 16 males and 4 females in catfish production.
The Overall Municipal Best Farmer was Mr. Eric Konteng, a 38year old middle school leaver.
For his prize, he received a chest freezer, ten tins of tuna flakes and a variety of farming implements.
SOURCE: ISD – LaNMMA
