Some agriculture experts from Nigeria and Ghana have suggested to farmers to consider a form of reduced tillage as a practice to help minimize nutrient lost and increase nutrient intensity in crops.
They also urged Ghana and Nigeria to consider the practice of using organic manure or compost, as well as cover cropping in farming to help in rebuilding soil carbon and enhancing soil health.
These proposals were made when the team presented findings from a project entitled “Nutritional Characterization of Major Food Crops in Two West African Countries – Ghana and Nigeria” to farmers, researchers, and policymakers in Kumasi.
The project was funded by the United States Mission to the African Union in partnership with African Union Semi-Arid Food Grain Research and Development (AU-SAFGRAD), Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) and Small-Scale Women Farmers Organization of Nigeria (SWOFON).
Dr Abimfoluwa Olalaye, an Agronomist, detailing the scope of the project said in Ghana the project sampled major staple crops including cassava, maize, rice, cowpea and okro to characterize their nutritional profile.
While in Nigeria, six food crops – rice, cassava, maize, okro, cowpea and green amaranth, were sampled in the Rainforest, Savanna, Guinea Savanna forests.
Ghana’s samples were taken in November 2022 from the Brong Ahafo and Ashanti Regions – thus the Rainforest and Guinea Savanna zones for the studies.
Dr Olalaye explained that this was meant to correlate mineral concentration of the food crops with management or agronomic practices.
“Crop samples were collected from farmers and a full nutritional profile analysis was conducted on the collected grains.
Given the importance of these crops in the region’s food system, characterizing their nutritional qualities allows for a comprehensive assessment of their mineral concentrations,” he cited.
According to him, studying the crops across different agro-ecological regions and correlating them with various management and agronomic practices would help the project gain deeper understanding of their nutritional content and identify potential strategies to enhance their nutritional value.
The data collected through the full nutritional profile analysis would be helpful in promoting sustainable agricultural practices and supporting better dietary habits.
Dr Idowu Atolaye, Climate-smart agriculture expert, touching on the findings, said in Nigeria and Ghana, of the sampled farmers’ population, 58 and 85 percent respectively, still used full tillage, while 15 and 13 percent respectively, have adopted the no-till practice with 28 and 2 percent respectively, using the reduced tillage.
He said about 50 percent of the farmers in both countries reported no fertilizer use while 25-38 percent used synthetic fertilizers and less than 6-16 percent farmers used organic fertilizers.
According to him, management practices varied in their impact on the nutrient density of crops with manure and fertilizer usage enhancing it.
Irrespective of fertilizer application, tillage practice had the most significant effect in predicting the nutrient density of crops evaluated.
Dr. Atolaye indicated that compared to data obtained by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on the same food crops, it was observed that the locally sourced food evaluated during this project had higher nutritional density.
By Florence Afriyie Mensah