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OCP Africa, the world's leading producer of phosphates and its derivatives, has successfully launched its OCP School Lab (OSL) agro-educational laboratory initiative in Ejura, in the Ashanti region.
The OCP Group subsidiary, with nearly 100 years of experience in the fertilizer industry, has launched the initiative to help small farmers increase their yields.
OCP School Lab, which was introduced in the country in 2017 in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture with the aim of increasing the yields and incomes of smallholders for crops strategic.
The company offers a complete package of agri-food services including a school with interactive training, live demonstrations and animation videos for increased adoption of good farming practices.
This program also includes soil tests for the same small farmers, a laboratory with the latest innovations, providing real-time information on soil requirements and fertilizer recommendations in terms of type of fertilizer, application rate and application time to optimize crop yields and benefits.
OCP School Lab provides these services to the most remote areas within multiple campaigns. Each campaign lasts between six and ten weeks in which the OSL truck goes to a selected area to provide soil testing and training sessions to farmers in the surrounding areas.
OCP technician, explaining the operation of the school lab to dignitaries at the event
Dr. Solomon Ansah Gyan, Deputy Director of Crops at the Ministry of Agriculture, said that OCP Africa had partnered with the Ministry, the Departments of Agriculture and the Soil Research Institute to ensure what farmers get the best service possible productivity.
He added that the regional and district agriculture departments were badisting OCP in designing the roadmap for the campaign in school labs, as well as in training for good agricultural practices for farmers.
Since the introduction of the OCP school laboratory in Ghana, approximately 45,000 smallholders have benefited from the program in the North, Middle East, East and Brong Ahafo regions from 2017 to the present day. The focus is on maize, rice, millet and sorghum.
In the first half of 2019, the campaign covered the eastern and eastern regions, using two trucks covering 150 communities and reaching more than 20,000 farmers.
For the second half of 2019, OCP Africa is raising the campaign a bit higher, as OCP School Lab (OSL) is expected to arrive in Ejura in the Ashanti region with 3 trucks and is expected to reach 30,000 additional farmers in 160 communities in both countries. Ashanti and then Upper West Regions.
Rose Adoma, a farmer, said she was delighted with the introduction and impact of the OCP school laboratory on her farming business.
She said that she had the habit of harvesting three sacks on an acre of land but that after training, soil testing and program advice, she now harvested 13 sacks.
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