He said irrigation remained one of the key technologies for sus­tained agriculture and its continu­ous neglect in Ghana remained a major threat to food security of the country.

Prof. Darko made the call at a day’s sensitisation workshop for selected farmers in the Kommen­da-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem Munici­pality of the Central region.

The workshop was on the theme: ‘Building capacity for sustainable practices,’ and focused on strength­ening the capacity of the beneficia­ry farmers, improving livelihoods and adding value to their produce.

It aims to increase productivity, explore more income streams, and create economic opportunities for subsistence and smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa by implementing state-of-the-art bio-based innovation.

The participants were sensitised to issues such as farm business records keeping, techniques for sustainable irrigation, and inter­cropping.

Prof. Darko underscored the need for stakeholders within the agricultural sector to champion the promotion of irrigation among farmers in the country to derive the needed benefits in ensuring food security.

He also explained that irrigation had been identified as one of the key technologies that could boost food security in the face of declin­ing agricultural lands.

Furthermore, Prof. Darko indicated that irrigation offered an opportunity to farmers across the country to farm throughout the year, increase income and improve their livelihood.

He then urged the farmers to patronise the technology to contribute to food production and ensure food security, especially in a period where the rainfall pattern  had changed.

Dr Francis Kumi, a senior lectur­er at the Department of Agricultur­al and Mechanical Engineering at UCC, also elaborated that accurate record-keeping was fundamental to good farm management.

According to him, when farmers had comprehensive records, they could monitor all the inputs and outputs of their farm, which helps farmers to keep track of the costs and assess their productivity.

“For example, you’ll know exactly when you last fertilised your fields or how much water your crops received. This information helps you make better decisions about when to irrigate. Accurate records also prevent you from wasting resources, saving you money and improving your farm’s efficiency,” he added.

Dr Kumi again expressed worry about how farmers bitterly com­plained about their inability to make profits from farm produce and urged farmers to take advantage of farm records keeping books to maximise profits.

For his part, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Crop Science, Dr Kwadwo Kusi Amoah, in his remarks appealed to farmers across the country to prioritise intercrop­ping.

He noted that some of the crops were interconnected based on the fact that, when one of the crops was drawing nutrients from the oth­er, the other one would be adding nutrients.

Such a practice, Dr Amoah emphasised, was the surest way of helping farmers in diversifying their land to break even.