The Council for Scientific ad Industrial Research (CSIR), in collaboration with the Crop Research Institute (CRI) and the National Varietal Release Committee, has introduced high-yielding and drought-resistant varieties of rice, maize and cassava in an effort to enhance the country’s food security.
The ceremony to introduce the varieties, which was attended by a number of agriculture researchers, was also used to encourage farmers to adopt the new varieties.
That, according to the researches, would enable farmers to plant their crops, obtain high yields and generate adequate incomes to raise their standard of living.
The high-yielding rice varieties are christened Amankwatia, Bodia, Wakatsuiki and Sakai, while those of maize are Aburohemaa, Abontem, Enii-pii and Amankwa. The cassava varieties are Otuhia, Sika Bankye, Bankye Broni and Ampong.
According to the Director-General of the CSIR, Dr Abdulai B. Salifu, the new cassava varieties were not only tolerant to the African Mosaic disease but also drought-resistant and could yield as high as 35 tonnes per hectare.
He said the crop, which could be used as food and for industrial purposes, had the highest starch yield ever recorded in Ghana.
On the rice, he said they were not only quality in terms of taste but also resistant to major diseases in Ghana such as blast, leaf spot and mottle virus and could also yield as high as 5.6 tonnes per hectare.
He said the maize varieties, which are also drought resistant and mature early, were suitable for the forest and coastal zones, as well as that of Guinea and Sudan Savannah zones .
In an address, the Minister of Environment and Science, Ms Sherry Ayittey, said food security was a major challenge that every nation strove to attain.
She commended CSIR and CRI for developing the varieties, which had already been accepted by farmers because of their quality in terms of yield, taste “and attributes to withstand some of the effects of climate change”.
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