COWPEA PRODUCERS IN NORTHERN GHANA TO BE TRAINED (PAGE 35, SEPT 27, 2010)

A training programme is to be organised in selected cowpea-production areas in the northern sector of the country .
The programme will ensure the proper storage of the crop to enhance food security and improve household incomes in the beneficiary communities.
Dubbed, “Purdue improved cowpea storage (PICS)”, the programme is a regional project involving 10 countries in West Africa.
In Ghana, it is to be implemented in the Northern, Upper East, Upper West, Brong Ahafo and Ashanti Regions. The target is to reach out to more than 2,000 communities within a year.
The project is being funded through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The partner implementing agencies in the country include World Vision, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and community-based organisations.
According to Dr Dieudonne Baributsa of the Purdue University in the USA, one of the collaborators, the programme also has the potential to reduce poverty among the people.
Dr Baributsa, who was speaking at the inauguration of the programme in Tamale, therefore, emphasised the need for farmers to ensure that they installed proper storage facilities using bags that had polythene in them.
“Using the Hermetic Triple Plastic Bag will help prevent post-harvest losses and improve household incomes for the poor farmers”, he stated.
The PICS Co-ordinator in Ghana, Dr John Adu-Kumi, explained that the new method would be demonstrated in each community, and radio sensitisation programmes organised.
He said if cowpeas was not stored properly, weevils would infect them and destroy the beans; a situation, he said, could lead to food insecurity and health hazards.
The Savelugu-based Operation Team Leader of World Vision, Mr James Asedem, said the project fell in line with the objectives of his outfit.
He stated that apart from being an important crop in the diet of the people, cowpea was also a key cash crop for many rural communities.
Mr Asedem, however, observed that cowpea farmers had over the years experienced the highest post-harvest losses due to ‘bruchid’ infestation.
He further said due to poverty and lack of proper storage facilities, some of the farmers usually sold their produce soon after harvesting, when prices for the crop were low.