The West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI) has called for strategic investments in the seed systems of six staple crops in Ghana for agricultural and industrial transformation. The six crops are rice, maize, soybean, cowpea, tomato, and cassava.
This came to light after a two-day meeting organized by the WACCI, a World Bank Africa Centre of Excellence at the University of Ghana, on the theme: “Developing a Compelling Case for Investments in the Seed Systems of Six Staple Crops for Agricultural and Industrial Transformation.”
A communiqué signed by Professor Eric Yirenkyi Danquah, the Founding Director, WACCI, and Convenor of the consultative meeting, said the requirement for improved, high-quality seeds resilient to biological and physical stresses was a sine qua non for a successful harvest.
It said Ghana possessed the necessary institutions, policy, regulatory framework, and expertise to establish a robust seed system that ensured the quality, availability, and affordability of good seeds to enhance the government’s Planting for Food and Jobs, Rural Industrialisation, and One District One Factory flagship programs.
WACCI has trained 105 plant breeders from 19 countries since its inception in 2007, with 24 of them being Ghanaians working in eight national agricultural research institutions and at the forefront of fighting food and nutrition insecurity through delivering climate-smart, resilient, nutritious, and productive varieties of the major staple crops in Africa.
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