As part of the pilot project, the CRI has organised a one-day training workshop for some selected tomato farmers in the new technology of greenhouse tomato cultivation.

The training, which formed part of a technology transfer agreement between the government of Ghana and India, will enable the farmers to cultivate tomatoes all year round and also improve on their income.

The farmers, who were drawn from all the tomato producing areas, were taken through a demonstration farm at the Soil Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) at Kwadaso in Kumasi where they were taken through the process of the preparing the greenhouse for the cultivation.

Project Manager

The Project Manager of NRDC, Mr Akhilesh Tiwari, said even though the new technology could be capital intensive, the returns on the investment were good.

Unlike India where they use glass for the greenhouse, he said  polythene was more appropriate for the weather in Ghana and instead of using metal frame, farmers could also use bamboo.

According to him, with the greenhouse technology, farmers could produce throughout the year without getting worried about the weather.

He said the technology was such that the farmer could control the conditions within the chamber for the plant to grow.

Unlike the open field plantation, he said the greenhouse plantation had higher yields as one could harvest as many as eight kilogrammes of tomatoes per plant.

Other Support

As part of the agreement, he said the Indian government was also supporting the institute with agricultural machinery, seed dryers, seed extraction machines, seed packaging machines and other laboratory equipment to help the country to produce their own seeds for the farmers.

He appealed to the government to help the farmers through subsidies to enable them to embrace the new technology held a lot of potential for the country, particularly in the face of climate change.

In all, he said the support being extended by the Indian government  to Ghana under the partnership was about $1 million.

CRI

A Senior Research Scientist with the CRI, Mr Offei Bonsu, said the new technology presented Ghanaians with many benefits and added that with the greenhouse cultivation, farmers would use less fertiliser and would not need a large tract of land for cultivation.

For that reason, he said farmers would make significant savings on their investment.

Farmers

Most of the farmers who took part in the training were impressed with the new technology but expressed concern about the initial investment, which they said was beyond their reach.