Ecoland International Ghana in partnership with Ecoland Germany and University College of Agriculture and Environmental Studies UCAES – Bonsu has set up a demonstration field in the University to pilot an organic farming project in the country.
Speaking at the launch of the demonstration and research field at UCAES in Bunso in Eastern Region, Dr. Isaac Adodoadji who is the projects long term expert of Ecoland Ghana, organic farming in Ghana has reduced drastically due to farmers’ love for use of agrochemicals which are mostly misapplied creating serious health challenges to consumers.
“We identified some challenges and gaps within the organic sector in Ghana and the intervention was that Ecoland Ghana will be able to breach that gap, so the organization in itself seeks to promote organic farming, strengthen organic institutions and organizations in Ghana”
He called for legislation on organic farming in Ghana to promote organic farming in the country.
“This is a set up to be able to facilitate such practices in Ghana, so some of our interventions we want to implement include setting up a demonstration and research field to promote organic farming, as well as trying to push for national legislation for organic farming and offering advising services in organic farming,” he said.
Dr. Isaac Adodoadji outlined that Organic farming is cheap and less expensive to practice because there are many small-scale farmers in Ghana therefore the organization believes that national legislation on Organic farming in the long term will savage and curtail the impact of fertilizer shortages on farmers.
“It will contribute a certain quota to the impact of fertilizer shortages in Ghana, I wouldn’t say entirely but as things stand now a lot of farmers are being pushed the back, they are suffering by the fact that they cannot import fertilizers so why is it that the government wouldn’t give the chance? With the NPK, it can also be gotten from organic sources in small quantities and a little bit, it makes a positive contribution to these substances that are imported, so at the moment to up skills, we need to start from somewhere” he added.
Rudolf Buhler, President of Ecoland International Germany stated that Ecoland International operates in some parts of Europe, Africa, and India where Ecoland Ghana was established last year to introduce extensive organic agriculture in Ghana with several measures including training of farmers, implementation of organic farming in the curriculum of some universities and certifications for local farmers to be convinced that Organic farming is the most successful and sustainable farming.
“The Organic farmers here will be providing the market for us then we get about governing price for the products and we will send them for export to Germany and European countries and also at the same time for subsistence farming to feed the local people so it goes in hand in hand,” he said.
He reiterated that as part of strategies for the eradication of poverty to achieve sustainable development for all, Ecoland Germany in partnership with Ecoland Ghana in the initial phase aims to supply the farmers with special varieties of imported organic seedlings and offer them the market in the next phase.
“They have to follow the organic practices and they have to accept the Organic standards so we are looking forward so that the farmers will have a future on good prices upon sustainable products” he is optimistic.
The Acting Rector of the University College of Agriculture and Environmental Studies UCAES, Dr. Charles Yaw Bempong Yeboah said following the pronouncement by the minister of agriculture Hon. Dr. Akoto Afriyie that the use of organic farming methodology is the way to go, the university has also put in place a curriculum that is currently waiting for approval from G- Tech so that the program can be rolled out by 2023.
He said, “the input cost of inorganic fertilizer is going higher every day and the remnants of these products in the soil are also increasingly prohibitive so we all must turn toward organic farming or more sustainable agriculture” he urged.
This was said when Ecoland International Germany met the students of UCAES and some workers at Bonsu cocoa college to launch an organic farming demonstration center in the university under the topic “the role of Ecoland Ghana in promoting Organic farming in Ghana”.
Source: Mybrytnewsroom.com/Obed Ansah
