Biotechnology investment key to agric devt

Business News of Thursday, 21 August 2014

Source: B&FT

Agricultural scientists say it has become imperative for policymakers to uphold modern biotechnology with substantial research funding to empower it as a key rudiment to subdue the growing challenges confronting agricultural productivity in the country over the years.

According to the scientists, agriculture faces serious challenges: such as dwindling labour forces, low productivity, climate change, finite resources, rapid population growth, energy crisis, problems of global trade and inequalities, as well as excessive pressure on natural resources -- and therefore biotechnology remains the perfect antidote to make the sector competitive.

This came to light during a three-day training workshop held at Ejisu in the Ahanti Region for selected media practitioners from the Northern sector of the country. The workshop, organised by Programme Biosafety

Systems in collaboration with its partners, focused on agricultural journalism, biotechnology, biosafety, and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Dr. Hans Adu-Dapaah, Director CSIR-Crops Research Institute, said agricultural biotechnology applications reduce maturation time, increase nutrients-yield and ensure stress tolerance. He added that it also ensures environmental sustenance, and improves resistance to diseases, pests and herbicide.

He said though Ghana has over the years seen some level of biotechnology in agriculture, the country is yet to explore the full benefits and potentials of it [biotechnology]. Some completed works under the technology he mentioned include producing plantlets of banana, plantain, cassava, pineapple, ginger, shea-nut, cocoa, coco-yam, oil palm and coconut for mass propagation using the tissue-culture technique.

The current farmland cover of Ghana is approximately 54.7% of its geographical area. Our population is about 25.28 million with an annual growth rate of 2.5%, which pegs Ghanas projected population in the next 50 years at 51.7million. This calls for holistic and concerted efforts to mature our biotechnology from the embryonic stage and transform agriculture to meet the growing population, he observed.

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Biotechnology investment key to agric devt