WAAP workshop opens in Kumasi

A five-day training workshop on management of agricultural communication for communication specialists and researchers under the West African Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP) has opened at Fumesua.

It aimed at building the capacities and improving the skills of the participants to influence a positive attitudinal change in all the agricultural actors.

Mrs Azara Ali-Mamshie, WAAPP-Ghana National Project Coordinator, speaking at the opening, noted that the major challenge facing agricultural productivity in West Africa was the low levels of technology adoption arising out of the lack of information and communication about them.

It was therefore imperative for all stakeholders under the WAAPP to make strenuous and conscious efforts to disseminate the technologies already available to them to all the development actors.

This way, they would be playing effective role in the implementation of the WAAPP laudable objectives and achievements.

Mrs Ali-Mamshie said WAAPP, which was being funded by the World Bank as an initiative to increase agricultural and food production in the sub-region, had achieved a lot of successes in the areas of improved crop yields and releasing various crop varieties, especially in the root and tuber crops.

For example, he said, under the project, cassava production had moved from the traditional 12,000 tonnes per hectare to 35,000 tonnes per hectare in the beneficiary countries while high yielding varieties of cocoyam have also been released to farmers across the sub-region.

Other crops which have seen significant improvements under the WAAPP in terms of yields and varieties were yam, maize and sweet potatoes.

Mrs Ali-Mamshie said under the second phase of the project which would soon be rolled out, Sorghum, millet and rice would be added to the crops already under implementation.

She reminded the researchers and communicators on their role to ensure that the laudable ideas and achievements of WAAPP created the desired impact in the lives of the intended target and advised them to take the workshop seriously to improve their performance.

Dr J.N.L Lamptey, Deputy Director of the Crop Research Institute (CRI), said effective and efficient management was very crucial in the implementation of the WAAPP to ensure its success.

He was hopeful that the training workshop would help improve the dissemination and adoption of new technologies and varieties being introduced under the project.

Source: GNA