Plantain farmers in the Ashanti Region are highly anticipating a more mechanized farming system to relieve them of the drudgery they endure in putting food on the tables of many homes in Ghana.
After an experience with mechanized hole diggers and weeders from the Crops Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the farmers are convinced of cultivating a large parcel of land within a shorter timeframe with less manual effort.
Conventional methods of digging holes for planting and weeding farms have been a tussle for farmers, presenting health complications and drudgery.
“We usually use the earth chisel to make the holes, and collect the sand from the hole before we plant. The next day or two, we came back to plant the plantain suckers,” Kusi Kwarteng, a farmer, narrated how planting of plantains is done.
He farms at the Odoyefe in Ahafo Ano Southeast of the Ashanti region. Mr. Kwarteng joined his fellow farmers to have a feel of a mechanised hole-digging equipment and motorized weeder for plantain farming.
One after the other, these farmers take turns experimenting with the machines to assess how easy farming would be if they had them on their fields.
First, the augers- otherwise known as the hole diggers. They tested the manual auger and then the motorized auger.
“This is easy to dig a hole. You can create many holes as possible without even fetching the sand. You wouldn’t need any labourers to help,” Mr. Kwarteng said.
Under the Mechanisation of crop production operations and organisation of agricultural labour for the agroecological transition (MecaWAT) project, engineers and scientists at the Crops Research Institute of the CSIR are exploring and developing handy, mechanized tools for cultivating plantains.
“For the motorized augers, we realized that in one hour, you can make not less than 55 to 60 holes with about 30cm depth. For the manual soil auger, does about 40-45 homes in one hour,” Dr. Shadrack Kwadwo Amponsah, Lead in Mechanization of the project, said.
The project seeks to contribute to the development of agroecological systems in sub-Saharan Africa through the mechanisation of crop production operations.
Field Coordinator, Dr. Isaac Osei Bonsu says the project is envisaging more add-ons to develop a tool that would appropriately suit the Ghanaian farming system.
“For the long term, we want to be able to develop the whole weeder and auger with the farmers so that they will play a crucial and origin role in the development of the final tool. When the final product comes out, we want to have the manufacturing companies produce them in mass numbers. Then, with that the government can come in to support,” he said.
The tools are expected to contribute to the country’s food security.
“Because they are able to make more holes, it ensures the farmers produce more and that’s brings about enhanced food security,” Project Coordinator, Dr. Natson Amengor, said.
While the scientists work at improving the tools for adoption in the plantain farming sector, the farmers are in earnest for their commercialization for a more mechanized farming system.
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