Farmers should adopt crops storages techniques practices-Dr. Mutari Abubakari
Nakpanzoo, N/R Sept. 30, – Dr. Mutari Abubakari, the Coordinator of Research Extension – Farmer -Linkage- Committee (RELC) at the Savanna Agricultural Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-SARI) advised Farmer’s to adapt storage techniques practices to enhance food security in the country.
He said food storage has been the major challenge in the country agriculture and it has resulted in considerable wast of agricultural putin.
Dr Abubakari gave the advised during demonstration activity under EWA-BELT project, on post harvest storage management for cereals such as Maize at Nakpanzoo in Savelugu-Nanton Districts in the Northern region.
The program organized by CSIR-SARI RELC was to improved on storage to protect maize from damage or wastage whilst ensuring household food supply.
He said due to the inadequate storage facilities, alot of farm produce have been condemned to wastage and which has also affected the country economy.
Dr. Abubakari said, there is a need to improve storage techniques in order to preserve agricultural produce for an ever-growing population.
“Maize, being one of the most important cereals used for majorly in human consumption which is susceptible to pest infestation by weevils reducing their nutritional value, weight and most importantly, the market price”. Dr. Abubakari stated
He educated the Farmers on the best ways to storage maize, said firstly the Farmers should dry the maize very well to ensure that maize remains at a content throughout storage to store on hermetic bags, unlike regular jute bags or polypropylene bags used to store maize.
He also advised the Farmers to use hermetic bags usually contain an inner rubber lining in which grains are placed and sealed so that they are airtight to prevent grain loss from weather, moisture, rodents, birds, insects, microorganisms from maize.
The EWA-BELT project funded by European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement No 862848, aims at developing Sustainable Intensification (SI) of agriculture productions in organic, agroforestry and mixed crop and livestock farming systems in 38 study areas of six countries belonging to EAST (Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania) and WEST (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Sierra Leone) Africa.
The research activities, carried out in Farmer Field Research Units (FFRU), address areas such as marginalized or abandoned lands and existing agricultural lands to increase their yield potential.