Moves to boost Ghana’s food security intensify

A two-day training workshop on safe and effective use of pesticides for pest control has been held in Koforidua as efforts to boost the nation’s food security intensified.

More than 50 agricultural extension officers and agents, farmer-based organizations and farmers from across the Eastern Region attended.

It was jointly organized by the Plant Protection and Regulatory Service of the Food and Agriculture Ministry, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

This comes amid the invasion of food crop farms by fall army worms. The goal was to build the capacity of the participants to identify the life cycle of the worms, techniques for early detection, the need to report and ways to combat the destructive worms.

Mr. Joseph Edmund, Deputy Director of the EPA, cautioned against incorrect use of pesticides by farmers and said that could be harmful to human health and the environment.

He underlined the need to pay serious attention to the label and safety instructions on how to apply these to prevent any accident.

Dr. Abebe Haile Gabriel, the FAO Representative to Ghana, in a speech read for him acknowledged that pesticides had helped to enhance food security and stopped pest from destroying vast hectares of agricultural crops. He said there was however a downside - negative impact on the environment and human health.

He added that, it was therefore desirable to gradually reduce the use of pesticides to a level where its negative impact would not be felt on human lives.

Dr. Gabriel advised farmers not to over concentrate on profit but to be more concerned about health safety of food consumers and the environment.