Fumesua, March 18, GNA - The Crop Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), is stepping up efforts to strengthen communication linkage with the private sector to enhance the adoption of CRI technologies.

Dr. Hans Adu-Dapaah, Director of the Institute, said the institute had also resolved to organize fee-based training courses for all categories of clients both locally and internationally and also establish a Client Service Office to showcase the CRI's products and services. Speaking at an in-house review and research planning workshop of the CRI at Fumesua near Kumasi, he said the measures formed part of strategies adopted by his outfit to enhance the institute's internally generated fund.

It was also to facilitate the transformation of the institute into a vibrant and impact-oriented agricultural research institute that will use innovative management techniques to turn emerging challenges in agriculture into opportunities for accelerated growth and development. Dr. Adu-Dapaah said in spite of the crucial role science and technology played in the nation's development, government as well as stake holders in the nation's development had not invested much in the sector and as a result potentials in the sector were yet to be fully tapped. He said, for instance, the situation had contributed to the high attrition rate suffered by the CRI in recent times and that some senior research scientists had left the institute due to poor service conditions.

This development, he said, could in the long term hamper the institute's vision of becoming a centre of excellence and therefore stressed the need for stake holders to work hard to motivate research scientists.

On ways to address the weak partnership between research, academia and industry, Dr. Adu-Dapaah said his outfit would organize an annual on day forum with industry operators, consumer associations and non-governmental organizations (NGO's) to outline the emerging challenges of industry for research interventions. It would also convert research findings into easy-to-understand fact sheets and pamphlets for clients in industry as well as the media to enhance dissemination of technologies, he said.