Production Packages for Ghana
Principal Investigator
David Jordan
Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
Co-PIs
Rick Brandenburg
Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
Moses Brandford Mochiah
Plant Health Division of CSIR-Crops Research Institute, Kumasi, Ghana
Mumuni Abudulai
CSIR-Savanna Agricultural Research Institute, Tamale, Ghana;
Mabudulai@yahoo.com or mabudulai11@gmail.com
Richard Akromah
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana
rakromah@yahoo.com; rakromah.agric@knust.edu.gh
Greg MacDonald
University of Florida, 3105 McCarty Hall, Agronomy Department, Gainesville, FL, USA
Maria Balota
Virginia Tech, Tidewater Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Suffolk, VA, USA
Development and delivery of improved production and pest management packages to peanut farmers in Ghana
Area of Inquiry: Value-added Gains
Country focus: Ghana
Project length: 4 years
Budget: $499,535
Peanut yields continue to be low in Ghana compared with those of other countries where new technologies and resources are available to farmers. Food safety through aflatoxin contamination is also compromised in Ghana because of poor drying and storing techniques. Previous research through the
Peanut CRSP and PMIL focused on variety development, integrated pest management, and aflatoxin reduction throughout the peanut value chain. Deployment of new technologies in Ghana has been effective in some areas but continues to be limited across the country. A major challenge is a weak national seed supply chain that can deliver improved varieties and production packages that can increase yield, quality and farmer income.
To address these and other important issues facing farmers and the agriculture sector associated with peanut, this project is focused on four objectives: improving and scaling-up production packages that improve peanut production and quality, evaluating peanut-cereal cropping intensity and sequence to promote increased income and food security, developing and deploying a risk tool for peanut production, and improving linkages among public and private sector partners along the peanut value chain. Through these four objectives a framework for collaboration among partners in Ghana will be fostered, farmers will receive pertinent information that will enable them to increase yield and improve food safety, and human capacity will be enhanced.
