Quality Rice Development Project (QRDP)

START DATE: January 2014          ESTIMATED DURATION: Jan 2014 – Dec 2016

SPONSORS: AGRA                                       

LOCATION: Northern and Upper East Regions

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: John Kanburi Bidzakin

PARTICIPATING SCIENTISTS: Dr. Wilson Dogbe, Mr. Williams Atakora, Dr. SK Nutsugah, Mr. Julius Yirzagla, Mr. Michael Maweya, Mr. Inusah Baba, Mr. Mohammed Abdul-Razak, Mr. Abu Safianu, Miss Benedicta Atosona, & Mr. Philemon Tetteh-Addo

COLLABORATING INSTITUTIONS: Trias Ghana, Amsig Resources, ICOUR and MoFA

OBJECTIVE: The project is aimed at contributing to the Government of Ghana’s objective of achieving food security and improved livelihood of smallholder farmers in the rice value chain by strengthening their capacity for sustainable and competitive quality rice production.

The specific objectives of the project are: (i) To increase productivity of rice in smallholder farming systems in the Northern and Upper East Regions of Ghana, (ii) Strengthen institutional and organizational capacity of Farmer Organizations (FBOs) to enhance access to services and (iii) To increase marketing of locally produced rice by smallholder farmers in the Northern and Upper East Regions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: To achieve these objectives, Farmers will be trained in good agricultural practices (GAP) including ISFM using demonstrations. Further, farmers will be sensitized and trained on the benefits to be derived from using high quality premium rice variety seeds. They will be linked to sources of quality seeds and other inputs. Access to appropriate financing for farmers will be given important consideration in the project. Value chain financing through partnership with aggregators and processors offers a good opportunity. In order to improve the quality of milled rice and hence its price, farmers will be linked to aggregators and processors and trained in post-harvest handling, processing, branding and packaging of rice. In undertaking project activities, the inclusion of women at different levels of the rice value chain is crucial to food security and the increase of family income.

CSIR-SARI, AMSIG Resources and TRIAS Ghana are the main partners to implement this project with each partner addressing one objective.   CSIR-SARI who will lead the project will also address issues related to objective 1 that includes access to quality seeds, building the capacities of farmers in good agronomic practices for quality rice production and creating awareness on Integrated Soil fertility management (ISFM). TRIAS will deal with Farmer Organization capacity building issues in objective 2 and AMSIG Resources will address market related issues in objective 3 including post-harvest management, processing and marketing. The project will work with other partners like Premium food, Irrigation Company of Upper Region (ICOUR), Bontanga irrigation Nucleus Farmers and FBO’s with at least 10,000 farmers, aggregators, rice processing companies, and local rice marketers along the rice value chain. The project will use the following promising models

ACTIVITY/PROGRESS MADE SINCE PREVIOUS REPORT:

Objective One: To increase productivity of rice in smallholder farming systems in the Northern and Upper East Regions of Ghana

• One hundred and thirty On-farm demonstrations fields have been established this season across the two regions
• Twenty rice advice validation trials established across the two regions  
• 36 Farmer Field Schools held and still on-going  
• 2600 farmers in 20 project communities were trained on GAP
• Two Agribusiness Centres (one each at Bontanga and Tono) established
• Created awareness on the importance and the profitability of the use of quality seeds and other inputs through field demonstrations and community video shows (1500 farmers participated)

Objective Two: Strengthen institutional and organizational capacity of Farmer Organizations (FBOs) to enhance access to services

·         327 FBO executives were trained on Gender awareness and FBO developments

·         30 groups from 19 communities and in 8 Districts identified and sensitized to work with QRDP in Northern and Upper east Region

·         1,807 new FBO members from 89 groups profiled

·         36 trainers identified and trained in group development and leadership dynamics as ToTs

·         392 FBO executives (225 males and 167 females) from 84 FBOs were trained in group development and leadership dynamics

·         2 Production Management, Marketing and Quality Control Committees (comprising 12 memebers) each formed in Golinga and Savelugu

·         105 processors from 26 groups were trained in Northern and Upper East regions on Small Business Development

Objective Three: To increase access to market for locally produced rice by small holder farmers in the Northern and Upper East Regions

·         1,396 farmers (571 Males, 825 Females) trained in harvesting and post- harvest management practices for quality rice production.

·         1,059 farmers (546 Males, 513 Females) trained in marketing and contracting.

·         Training of 144 farmers (1 Male, 143 Females on branding and packaging of quality rice.

·         Awareness on Fidelity Smart Account product raised among 307 farmers (145 M, 162 F) for adoption to help facilitate payments and ensure security of funds.

·         263 women from 4 FBOs trained in methods of improved rice processing

·         321 farmers (268 Males, 53 Females) facilitated and linked to various market actors to facilitate produce marketing.

·         A total of 4,951 bags were aggregated for marketing.

·         A pre-harvesting meeting held with owners of 6 private combine harvesters, 2 institutions, farmers and aggregators at Buntanga irrigation leading to the deployment of 7 combine harvesters for timely harvesting of rice.

·         Consultative meetings held with FBOs and aggregators in 4 communities in the Northern Region to identify and select sites for establishment of drying platforms.

·         Golinga farmers have released land for the plat form to be established.

·         4 Reapers, 8 tarpaulins  and 2 threshers has been procured for farmers to facilitate harvesting and processing of rice

WAY FORWARD:

We will continue with this activities in the next quarters and also expand our activities by bringing on board more communities to benefit from the project. Two small scale enterprises involved in rice processing capacities will be enhanced by supporting them with two 1.5MT/Hour rice mills. Two ABCs each at Vea and Golinga is been established and will be ready by early January for use by farmers.

Rice Sector Support Project: Piloting of the DMC in selected communities

START DATE: 2014.                       ESTIMATED DURATION: 1 year (+2year Extension)

SPONSORS: AFD/GOG (RSSP):    

LOCATION: Northern Region, Upper East Region and Upper West Region

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Dr. Wilson Dogbe (PhD)

PARTICIPATING SCIENTISTS: Ann Perinniel, Elsie Sarkodie Addo, Micheal Mawunya

Objective

• To provide training and technical support to farmers for the implementation of Direct seeding Mulch based Cropping system (DMC) at the community level
• To demonstrate to farmers the benefits of practising conservation on their farm lands

METHODOLOGY:

Direct Seeding Mulch based cropping system (DMC) demonstrations are executed in 3 pilot communities, Djanton, Nwodua and Zugu. The demos demonstration are located in Upland and Midland (hydromorphic) ecologies in the communities. In the Upland ecology, the cropping system being demonstrated is maize inter- sown with Brachiaria, .Crotalaria or Cowpea. In the Mid land, rice is used as the main crop and intercropped with Stylosanthes  or Sorghum or Brachiaria. A corresponding sole cover crops of Stylosanthes g., sorghum or Brachiaria are established in both ecologies  to ensure   bi-annual rotation. Farmers’ practice of the maize cropping system or rice cropping system are kept for comparison.

 The management of the demonstration  in each community is done in partnership with the community based consultative committees and staff from SARI. All the inputs are supplied by the projects, whiles volunteer farmers on the other hand help with the field management.

ACTIVITY/PROGRESS MADE SINCE PREVIOUS REPORT:

The DMC demonstrations were effectively established in the 3 pilot communities (Djanton, Nwodua and Zug) despite delay in the onset of rains in the current year. Pre-harvest data collection have been done in all the pilot communities. Upland demonstration in the pilot communities have been harvested. Moreover, exchange field visits were organized among the pilot communities before the harvesting to enable the farmers make their own observations of the cropping systems so as to make  informed choices. The rice based system will be harvested in the early weeks of November.

WAY FORWARD:

Data on the cropping system will be assessed with active participation of the farmers in order to promote the cropping systems that are acceptable to them.

Rice Sector Support Project: Enhanced Adaptive research responsive to productive and environmental needs of the ecological zone

START DATE: 2012.                       ESTIMATED DURATION: 3 years (+2year Extension)

SPONSORS: French Development Agency (AFD):             

LOCATION: Northern Region, Upper East Region and Upper West Region

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Dr. Wilson Dogbe

PARTICIPATING SCIENTISTS: Dr. Roger A.L Kanton, Dr. S.S Buah, Michael Mawunya, Fulera Tahiru, Elsie Sarkodie-Addo

COLLABORATING INSTITUTIONS: CIRAD, MoFA, CSIR-SARI, CSIR-FRI and UDS

OBJECTIVES:

-          Test several cropping system to select the most performing ones.

-          Investigate the feasibility of the systems according to different factors (ecologies, time of flooding of the field, equipment availability, date of establishment, crop varieties).

-          Evaluation of production capacity grain and/or forage of cover crops

-          Monitoring of herbicides management

-          Develop management strategies for cover  crop seed production

METHODOLOGY:

On- station DMC trials have been conducted in Upland, Midland and the Lowland ecologies of the CSIR-SARI Rice field. The Upland DMC trial is maize or soy bean based, whiles the Midland and the Lowland trials are rice based. Randomized Complete block design with 3 replications have been employed for the experiments. Each main plot of a cropping system is divided into 3 levels of fertilizers. The followingFertilizer levels  are  being used ,for maize  F1/2= NPK (11-11-11); F1= NPK (45-30-30+); F2=NPK (84-45-60); for soy bean: F1/2= NPK (11-11-11):F1= NPK (30-30-45);F2=NPK (45-45-60); for rice: F1/2= NPK (11-11-11):F1= NPK (40-30-30):F2=NPK (74-53-53).

  In all the experiments, cover crops such as Stylosanthes guanensis, Sesbania sesban, Crotalaria ssp, Centrosema pascuorum, Brachiaria ruziziensis or Vigna sinensis var unguiculata have been intercropped in the main crops with corresponding sole cover crop plots for bi-annual rotation.

ACTIVITY/PROGRESS MADE SINCE PREVIOUS REPORT:

The experiments were suscessfully executed in the Upland, Midland and Lowland in the 2015 season. Pre-harvest data collection on all the experiments has been completed. The harvesting of the experiment in the Upaland has also been completed. The remaining g experiments in the Lowland and the Midland will start in early weeks of the November ,2015.

WAY FORWARD: Data collected on the cropping systems will be analysed so as to ascertain the performance of the cropping systems in terms of yields as well as their  amenability to farmers’ adoption.

Promotion of released rice varieties (Gbewaa, Nabogo & Katanga)

START DATE: 2014            ESTIMATED DURATION: 4

SPONSORS: WAAPP                                  

LOCATION: NR, UWR, UER

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Wilson Dogbe

PARTICIPATING SCIENTISTS: Wilson Dogbe (PhD), Samuel Oppong Abebrese , S. S. Buah & R. A. L Kanton

COLLABORATING INSTITUTIONS: MoFA,

OBJECTIVES

·         To promote three (3) newly released rice varieties in the district

·         To introduce Good agronomic practices on the production of these improved varieties

·         To create awareness among farmers of the availability of the newly released varieties in the District.

METHODOLOGY: 1kg packs of 3 varieties released in 2009 (Gbewaa, Nabogo and Katanga) by CSIR-SARI but have not received the needed promotion will be distributed through MoFA to farmers in the 3 Northern regions: The Maturity period of the varieties are Gbewaa – 115 days, Nabogo – 125 days and Katanga 135 – days. They have achievable yields of 6 – 8 tons.  A Participatory approach using the Mother and Baby evaluation system will be used in this promotional exercise. In each district two demonstrations will be set up to compare the three varieties to the most popular variety.  Each participating farmer will receive one of the three varieties (Babies) to compare with his own variety. The demonstrations will serve as mother trials whiles the one variety given to farmers will serve as promotional packages/Baby trial.  Trained Collaborating MoFA extension Agents will organize fortnightly learning sessions at the demonstration sites where farmers will be trained or exchange ideas on good agronomic practices (good land preparation, good planting methods i.e. dibbling, recommended spacing at 25 by 25cm, and seed rate at 20 kg, early fertilizer application i.e. between 2 to 3 weeks after planting and 6-7 weeks for top dressing and early harvesting) for rice cultivation.

ACTIVITY/PROGRESS MADE SINCE PREVIOUS REPORT

A total of 1000 packages were distributed to famers in Northern and Upper West regions through MoFA. The poor rainfall pattern in 2015 in most of the target communities did not allow full implementation of the baby trials. As at the end of the quarter only 600 baby trials had been established. Field days were organized around the mother trials during planting and fertilizer application.

WAY FORWARD: Facilitate harvest and post harvest yield assessment on successful fields.

Coordination of Foundation and Certified Seed Production for RSSP

START DATE: 2010            ESTIMATED DURATION: Six years

SPONSORS: MoFA/AFD & SIC (Under the Rice Sector Support Project (RSSP) & Private seed company

LOCATION: Nyankpala & Golinga

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Wilson Dogbe

PARTICIPATING SCIENTISTS: Samuel Abebrese, Michael Mawunya, Aliyu Siise,

COLLABORATING INSTITUTIONS: GGLDB, GSID-MoFA, SEEDPAG NR

OBJECTIVES: To coordinate the production of at least 5 tons of Foundation seed of Gbewaa rice, Nabogo, Katanga and Tox 3107 for the RSSP. To coordinate the production of at least 240mt of certified seed for the RSSP project farmers

METHODOLOGY: A rice seed value chain Stakeholders meeting to review 2014 rice seed production and also plan seed production activities for 2015 will be held. Training of seed producers and backstopping of seed production will be undertaken. Seven hectares of foundation seed of released varieties will be planted in collaboration with GGLDB.

ACTIVITY/PROGRESS MADE SINCE PREVIOUS REPORT

Regional trainings were organized for seed companies and seedPAG members. Trained technicians were linked to seed producers to backstop and provide on the job training of seed companies staff.

Almost 15 hectares foundation seed of all released varieties (Table 2) are being produced at Nyankpala, Bazua, Golinga and Bontanga. Foundation seed production at Bazua, Golinga and Bontanga are being implemented in partnership with partner seed companies (Heritage seed Company, Lexbok seed Company, Rural innovation Consult and Ariku seeds). At Golinga SARI is using out grower farmers to produce foundation seed.

Seed companies, NGO’s, Project’s and farmers ere linked to Foundation and breeder seed sources. 

Field days were organized in partnership with partners to create awareness on the varieties and create demand. 

Facilitated the Inspection of foundation seed plots by the Ghana Seed Inspection unit (GSIU) of MoFA were invited to do inspection of the seed fields.

WAY FORWARD:

Final Field inspection by the GSIU will be done followed by harvesting, processing quality testing and storage.

Table 2.  Foundation Seed plots planted in 2015

Variety	Locations	Area	Responsible Person
Gbewaa	Nyankpala	2.8	Danaa
	Golinga	1.31	Danaa
	Bontanga	2	Lexbok, Heritage and Rural Innovation Consult.
	Sambologo	1	ARIKU
Total		7.11
CSIR-AGRA	Nyankpala	1.58	Danaa
	Golinga	1.80	Danaa
	Bontanga	2	Seedcos
	Sambologo	1	ARIKU Seed Company
Total		6.38
Tox 3107	Nyankpala	0.176	Danaa
Katanga	Nyankpala	0.288	Danaa
Nabogo	Nyankpala	0.28	Danaa
GR 18	Nyankpala	0.27	Danaa
Digang	Nyankpala	0.23	Danaa
Total		1.244
Grand Total		14.73