A group of African agricultural specialists has urged the Ghanaian government to develop cost-effective, climate-resilient solutions for farmers in order to secure food security.
They stated that Ghana must improve and promote access to verified climate information services, strengthen her resilience to climate shocks, and draft her Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), a climate action plan to reduce emissions and adapt to climate consequences, among other things
During Ghana’s capacity strengthening and stakeholder consultation on the project at the weekend, Dr Rousseau Djouaka, a Health Expert on the Accelerating Impacts of Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA)project, said farmers needed technologies that were cost-effective and within their financial reach.
The AICCRA is part of the CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research), a global research alliance dedicated to ensuring food security, poverty reduction, and improved nutrition.
He said: “The scientists need to consider and develop technologies that are cost-effective for farmers, and not one that is worth hundreds of dollars. The farmers will not adopt it if they don’t see the value of it and the amount of money the technology brings.”
Dr Djouaka called on agriculture extension workers to train farmers on the use of the technologies and their importance to improve yield and sustaining the environment.
Just like other countries across the globe, Ghana faced the threat of climate-driven biotic stresses such as pest infestations, pathogens and invasive alien species destroying local biodiversity and ecosystems.
Mr Ghislain Tepa-Yotto, the Lead Coordinator, AICCRA, said the project chose Ghana because it was among the regions most affected by the climate change impacts, hence the need to work towards intensification of agriculture systems.
“There is the need for us to deploy technologies and innovations that make our food systems much stronger because agriculture is the major contributor to the country’s GDP,” he said.
The AICCRA project aims at enhancing access to climate information services and validated climate-smart agriculture technologies in Africa, funded by the International Development Association of the World Bank.
The one-week capacity strengthening brought together farmer organisations, scientists, universities, public sector stakeholders and non-governmental organisations.
The Ghana cluster programme focuses on six intervention regions; Upper West and East, Northern, Bono East, Central and Greater Accra, where climate-smart agriculture promotion and information services would be piloted and promoted.
It is a three-year project being implemented in six African countries; Ghana, Mali and Senegal (West Africa) and Ethiopia, Kenya, and Zambia (East Africa).
