Mr Godfred Dwamena, Tano South District Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), over the weekend advised vegetable farmers to apply organic manure to sustain nutrients and increase productivity.
He emphasised that the misapplication of chemical fertilizers on vegetable and other food crops reduced nutrients and poison the foodstuffs as well as fresh vegetables.
Mr Dwamena gave the advice when addressing more than 100 farmers from Mansin, Breme and Ohianimguase at a seminar on the “climate change and sustainable land management practices” at Ohianimguase, a farming community in the Tano South District of the Brong-Ahafo Region.
The Centre for Partnership on Rural Improvement Agency (CERPIA), a Non-Governmental Organisation, working to promote food security with support from the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) organised the seminar.
Mr Dwamena noted with concern that most stomach related illness are as a result of food poison because some farmers failed to adhere to instructions from agric extension officers on the application chemical fertilizers.
He said it was not true that when farmers applied too much fertilizer on their farms their crop yields would increase.
Mr Dwamena stressed that, rather, food productivity was based on good agriculture management practices such as application of organic manure, ridging, bounding and agro-foresting.
He said though the directorate had 12 agric extension officers instead of the required 32, the officers had been provided with motorbikes to enable them to reach all farmers in the district and advise them.
Mr Isaac Adjei-Mensah, Tano District Development Officer in charge of Extension of the MOFA, noted with concern, the degrading of the environment, due to bad farming practices.
He mentioned continuous cropping, over grazing, bush burning and wrong application of pesticides, urbanization, industrialization and disposal of toxic waste as the major contributory factors to climate change in Ghana.
Mr Adjei-Mensah said agriculture was the leading cause of climate change in the country and advised farmers against farming along river bodies and recommended that they adopt rain water harvesting for irrigation.
He entreated to farmers to form associations and ensure that they promote effective partnership with extension officers to enable them to access ready market and financial assistance.
Source: GNA
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