The Yendi municipal crops officer of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Phanuel Yawson Dzigba Sosu, has advised farmers to resort to the use of safe chemicals to store their food crops.
According to him, the use of unsafe chemicals could lead to harmful consequences such as food poisoning.
The officer, therefore, urged them to use preservatives such as organic chemicals which he said were safe and had no side effects on humans or animals.
Mr Sosu gave the advice at a training workshop at Yendi in the Northern Region where he took farmers through topics such as chemicals for storage, inadequate storage facilities and the use of shelling machines for soya beans.
It was organised by Research for Development and Innovation Agriculture and Learning (ReDIAL) project, an NGO.
Organic chemicals
Mr Sosu mentioned organic chemicals safe for storage to include neem extract, pounded pepper and pounded Mahogany bark.
However, he said if one desired to use inorganic chemicals such as phostoxin tablets, it must be done under the supervision of an agricultural officer.
Mr Sosu also expressed concern over the lack of shelling machines for soya beans in the system, saying the few that were on rentals were expensive for the average farmer hire.
Support
The project officer of ReDIAL, Mohammed Fusheini, said for the past two years, their work had been supported by the European Union with the supply of equipment for smallholder farmers who included marginalised women and farmers with physical disability.
He also said soil testing tools were used to gather scientific data on soil nutrients within targeted zonal landscapes with the help of experts from the University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi.
Mr Fusheini said the data was then processed to identify and profile the soil nutrient deficiency of farmlands to aid the identification of specific nutrient enrichment.
He further said the EU officials visited Yendi and Gushegu where they were supporting farmer groups with credit facilities.
Appreciation
The Yendi Municipal Social Welfare Officer, Peter Tana, expressed appreciation to ReDIAL and EU for supporting the vulnerable women and farmers in the area.
He said such interventions would go a long way to bring relief to the farmers and also improve on their standards of living.
They also called for more attention to be given to the soya bean sector where many farmers were now engaged for better outcomes.
Source: graphiconline.com
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