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The Korean Program for International Agriculture (KOPIA) has signed a protocol agreement with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to help expand its marketing activities.
Under this agreement, KOPIA will badist the CSIR's Animal Research Institute (ARI) and Crop Research Institute (CRI) to produce poultry breeds and rice plants, respectively, for commercial purposes.
Currently, ARI and IRC produce products in small quantities due to financial constraints.
Last Wednesday, at the signing ceremony at CSIR Headquarters in Accra, KOPIA Director, Dr. Cho Gyoungrae, signed for his training, the ARI Director, Professor Emmanuel Adu, and the Director IRC, Dr. Moses B. Mochiah, who signed for their respective Institutes.
The witnesses were Korea's Ambbadador to Ghana, Kim Sungsoo, and the Director General of CSIR, Professor Victor Kwame Agyemang.
Huge challenge
Professor Agyemang congratulated KOPIA and the Korean government for supporting Ghana's agriculture sector.
He said the CSIR had, through its research, produced quality rice seedlings and poultry that were resistant to diseases but could not produce them in large quantities to reach all corners of the country.
He added that this represented a daunting challenge for the board, adding, "But with the help of KOPIA and the Korean government, I am hopeful that this problem will be solved."
Strong political commitment
Mr Gyoungrae, for his part, said that the Government of Ghana had a strong political commitment to food self-sufficiency, hence the introduction of the Plant to Feed and Create Jobs program.
He noted however that there had been problems, including irrigation and clearing of agricultural land, which had hindered the initiative.
He added that after the signing of the agreement, the two institutes would be revitalized, have improved their agricultural infrastructure and developed and jointly distribute agricultural technologies.
He added that because of this, the productivity of Ghana's farmers would increase, their incomes would rise and they would help advance the government's food self-sufficiency policy.
Technology
The Korean Ambbadador, Mr. Sungsoo, for his part, noted that Ghana had great potential to increase its production of rice and poultry and that it would be feasible if it applied the technology. and invested more in agricultural research.
He said the agriculture sector is very important for development and urged the government to pay more attention to help speed up national development efforts.
"Ghana has great potential, but there is not much to do in terms of technology to improve agriculture.
This will help put in place new initiatives to enable the country to achieve Ghana Beyond Aid, "he said.
Poultry
Regarding poultry, Professor Adu, director of ARI, said that over the years, the poultry sector had not experienced the expected results because of the mortality problems and the high production costs.
He added that in developed countries, farmers were raising birds weighing 1.8 kg in six weeks, adding that Ghanaian farmers could not compete with them because no mechanism was in place to achieve such results. .
Professor Adu announced that the institute had developed a breed of poultry to be able to reach this level, adding that this breed had a survival rate of 97% and had adapted locally.
He added that the challenge now was to find the day – old chicks on the market.
"The collaboration will allow us to keep the grandparents and the parent stock in order to produce enough commercials that we can spread in the industry and allow people to benefit from the high quality birds that we have raised", he revealed.
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