GHANAIAN FARMER DEVELOPS FALL ARMY WORM-RESISTANT MAIZE VARIETY

 Ghana is on the verge of finding a lasting solution for the dreaded Fall Army Worms which has been the bane of maize production in the country in the last two years.

 This follows the near breeding of a new variety of maize that is proving to be an effective resistant to the Fall Army Worm pest. When asked if the new variety was not Genetically Modified, the 'Breeder' replied 'No. This is conventional maize.'

The new hybrid maize which is also very high yielding, is in its first year of cultivation and will be ready for harvesting in less than a month from now. 

The Ashanti Region Representative on the Council of State, Nana Owusu Achiaw Brempong, who is a commercial farmer, is the brain behind the near breakthrough on his 400 acre maize farm at Nkujua Aframso Number Two in the Sekyere Central district of the Ashanti region. 

Ashanti Today has visited the farm  where Nana Owusu Achiaw explained that while the fall army worms were able to destroy a variety of the conventional maize on the same plot of land, the pests could not attack the newly developed hybrid variety thereby giving a strong indication that the all yellow corn could be efficacious against the deadly pests. 

Originating from the Americas, the highly destructive pests, Fall Army Worms, were first detected in insignificant numbers in the Ashanti region during the minor farming season of 2016. 

There was however, a major outbreak of the worms that is nocturnal in nature, during the major farming season last year during which period the government struggled to find a permanent break on their infestation leading to substantial loss in crop, particularly maize yield in almost all the administrative regions of Ghana. 

Up till now, there is no known efficacious agro chemical that can effectively stop their attack while a laboratory study is yet to be conducted by any individual or organization to determine the chemical residue of the many unapproved chemicals sprayed on farms that could still be traced in the maize produced last year. 

Any such scientific study could prove very useful for the consuming public considering the many different and quantity of agro chemicals adopted to control the fall army worms.

 Nana Owusu Achiaw Bremping, who is also the chief of Akrofooso near Agona in the Sekyere South district, has been in commercial farming for nearly 12 years and presently has two farms of maize and 20 thousand mounds of yam. 'The yam will be supplied for the school feeding programme', he assured.

 These are the 400 acre new hybrid and a 130 acre conventional maize farms cultivated with three workers. 

He has also built an irrigation dam with an installation of a central-pivot modern irrigation system at a cost of about one million Ghana Cedis which is aimed at the cultivation of mainly vegetables during the dry season. 

As part of his corporate social responsibility, the Council of State Member has personally re-shaped part of the 30 kilometre Nsuta-Nkujia Aframso Number feeder road with small bridges over portions of the Afram river that runs through the farm complex.

 He is also supplying the community with electricity through an installed generator. Nana Owusu Achiaw Brempong entreated government to provide incentives to attract the youth into commercial agriculture since it is capital intensive. 

The Ashanti Regional Director of Agric, Reverend John Manu, in an interview, expressed delight at the near breakthrough. 'Today, I'm highly impressed. It is spectacular!', Rev. Manu exclaimed.

The Agric Director said he will send agric students to observe the new technology to encourage them to continue to pursue modernized agric.