Stunted in growth but spots some another flowering at the top of the maize plant. Flowering means fruits must stick out from the plant stock, but not these ones.
The about 4 acre maize farm had suffered from a weird growth rate. The result is that there are no corns on the plants after five months on the field.
The owner of the farm, 27-year old David Asiamah also owns over 5,000 birds in his farm at Soko in the Offinso Municipality.
David in 2015 spent over 14,000 Ghana Cedis on feeding the birds alone. This nearly caused him his business. From them on, he resolved to cultivate maize on his 4 acre land to save him from the huge cost of feeding every year.
After months of investing time and resources in the farm, he was amazed with the fruit of his labour-half grown plant with no corns on them.
“We watered it and did all that we must do to this plant. We planted on time so I am surprised at what has happened”. The worried young farmer said.
But the story is different at Amanchia, a farming community in the Atwima Nwabiagya District of the Ashanti region where maize farmers have succeeded against the odds of the weather.
Okuanin Dr. Kofi Buah who will turn 61 later this year is one of the successful farmers. He has been farming for over 40 years.
He owns about 200 acres of farm on which he grows diverse crops in all seasons, including dry seasons.
He cultivated about 6 acres of maize on part of his land to prepare the land ahead of the cocoa planting season.
He planted about two weeks after David did at a time when the rains had refused to come down. Surprisingly, his plants are doing well.
Okuanin Dr. Kofi Buah has resolved to employ what is called conservation agriculture. With this, he does not till the land after harvesting.
Stocks of the plants are left on the land to decompose. It serves as mulch and retains the little moisture available in the soil and prevents it from evaporating.
In times of little or no rain, the mulch conserves the little moisture for the use of the plant. This did the trick for him.
Samuel Amponsah, 49 years, has been farming for 15 years in Amanchia. He also escaped the brunt of the weather and losing his investment.
He cultivated an acre of maize together with other crops last year.
“We those who employed the no-till style of farming last year, didn’t experience much of the effects of the failed rainfall.
Despite the little rains, I managed to get 75 per cent of the expected yield due to this new farming practice”.
Unlike David, Kofi Buah didn’t lose his invested resources on the maize land though he didn’t get the expected yield.
He has been practicing this type of farming for close to five years and the result is tremendous.
Minkah Fordjour, Ashanti Regional director for the agriculture has been busing his extension officers and some farmers to the place to observe, learn and apply.
He has therefore called on Ministry of Food and Agriculture), to assist the centre to scale up the facility to across the major farming areas in the country.
By Prince Appiah
