AGRA Teams Up With Agric Ministry To Boost Ghana’s Food Security Using SeedSAT Initiative

• The Alliance for Green Revolution has begun rolling out the SeedSAT initiative in Ghana after successes in Kenya, Uganda, and Malawi
• The SeedSAT analyses key indicators of a country’s seed system and makes recommendations on how to increase the delivery and use of improved varieties
• Adoption of the recommendations is expected to improve Ghana's seed system and boost its food security

Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and Ghana’s Ministry for Food and Agriculture have held a programme to improve the country’s seed system and boost food security.

Using the SeedSAT assessment tool, experts, farmer-based organisations and small-holder farmers at the programme deliberated on how to enhance Ghana’s food security through the improvement of the country’s seed systems.

The AGRA-led SeedSAT initiative, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, analyses key indicators of a country’s seed system, scoring them on eight thematic areas after which key recommendations on how to increase the delivery and use of improved varieties of seed would be provided by experts.

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The tool typically uses information aggregated from existing resources and assessments and adds additional subject matter expertise to help identify the root cause of deficiencies and inefficiencies of a country’s seed system.

Already, the SeedSAT has been highly successful in three of the four targeted countries – Kenya, Uganda, and Malawi – with Ghana being the latest country to use the tool to strengthen its seed system.

AGRA Country Director, Juliette Lampoh-Agroh, explained at the programme held on June 7, 2022, in Accra that the efficiency of the seed sector of any country greatly impacts its agricultural production sector. She said AGRA is particularly interested in the seed sector because it is one area that triggers every aspect of the agric output.

“Due to a number of challenges, the usage of improved seeds in Ghana, particularly by smallholder farmers, is extremely low. Our conviction is that if we can appropriately invest in the seed sector, smallholder farmers’ production will improve.

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“AGRA has been working in this sector for several years and has seen some success by increasing the usage of modified seeds by smallholder farmers from 11% to 30%,” she told journalists.

She said Ghana scores high on the “Enabling Environment” indicator of the eight thematic areas, although there is a need for improvement in other areas to ensure the country has a resilient seed system.

The meeting between AGRA and the Agric Ministry, with the input from experts and other stakeholders, would conclude by exploring the problems and opportunities inherent in Ghana’s crop value chains to identify investment opportunities for seed system development. AGRA is confident this would drive Ghana’s agri-food system transformation.

The Director of Agriculture Extension Services at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Paul Siameh, praised the SeedSAT initiative, noting that Ghana has firmly embraced the use of certified improved seeds in agriculture. He said, one of the obvious problems in agric production in the country is farmers’ inability to access high-quality seeds which stifle good harvest.

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Ghana Turns To Organic Fertilizer Amid Inorganic Fertilizer Crisis

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh reported in a previous story that amid a global crisis of inorganic fertilizer production, AGRA is helping Ghana to make a strong push toward large-scale organic fertilizer production.

Organic fertilizers contain plant or animal-based materials that are either a byproduct or end product of naturally occurring processes, such as animal manure and composted organic materials.

The inorganic fertilizers, dominated by the chemicals nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), have for many centuries ensured food production.

Source: YEN.com.gh