Ghana saves GH¢800,000 from recycling waste

04-09-08
Page 31

THE country saves GH¢800,000 every year as result of the transformation of waste materials by research scientists at the Animal Research Institute and the Cocoa Research Institute into animal feed for the livestock industry.
They include cocoa husks, palm kernels, coconut chaff, cocoa puds, pito mash, cassava peels and copra.
The Director of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Prof E. Owusu-Bennoah, stated this in an address read on his behalf at the opening of a two-week refresher course for West Africa alumni of Practical Training Centre plus (PTC+) at Barneveld College in The Netherlands.
The programme which is on the theme, “Chain Management for Sustainable Pig/Poultry in West Africa”, aims at among other things, to keep the alumni abreast with modern trends in agriculture. PTC+ in Barneveld has for the past 35 years, trained about 130 Ghanaians in the field of poultry, pig and feed milling.
Prof Owuwu-Bennoah noted that increase in agricultural productivity and production should be the immediate focus in the attempt to create and increase wealth despite the discovery of oil.
“The CSIR through the activities of its scientists has been the main engine powering this drive in this country by the continuous release of new and improved crop varieties such as quality proten maize as well as effective and efficient animal feeding strategies and disease control packages,” he said, adding that future programmes in the animal sector would include the use of molecular biology techniques for characterisation of disease agents and the diagnosis of diseases such Swine Fever, Bird Flu, Gumboro disease and Newcastle disease.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Ernest Debrah, said the government had established a Poultry Development Board to advise it on the development of the poultry industry.
He named some of the major constraints in the sector as low genetic material of livestock species, poor management practices and low productivity, inadequate availability of quality feed, low application of good agricultural practices in the production, handling and transportation of livestock products as well as low awareness of food safety.
As part of measures to address such constraints, he said, the ministry would undertake the breeding of genetically superior livestock for farmers, develop and promote good management practices and appropriate housing for livestock and improve the nutritive value of rangelands by the introduction of proven forage legumes.
The acting Director of the Veterinary Division of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Dr E.B.M. Koney, said about 40,000 birds were destroyed last year during the outbreak of the Avian Influenza.
The Deputy Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Ms Benedicta Naana Biney, said the involvement of teachers in the programme meant a lot since it would arouse the interest of the youth in the area of agriculture.
A trainer at PTC+, Mr Helmich van Rees, said the institution was an international training centre which focused on all the links in the production chain of plant and animal commodities, agricultural and food technology.
The main activities of the institution, he said, were designing and conducting application oriented training programmes and transforming of information to become knowledge of clients.
He said PTC+ had undertaken projects in South Africa, Senegal, Zambia and Uganda.