The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has begun an initiative to produce wheat locally for consumption and cut the cost of importation.

The move is also to produce wheat for the flour industry, which is key in the production of bread.

As part of its research into the initiative, the CSIR indicated that it had collected over 300 wheat lines, tested them and identified 17 that produced sufficient seeds.

"We in Ghana have started the Wheat Initiative, and very soon, in a year or two, we will be able to come out with wheat varieties that we produce locally.

"It will cut our import budget for wheat, and we will have local wheat produced for our flour industry," the Deputy Director General of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Prof. Marian D. Quain, said in Accra yesterday (May 8).

Discussion on food security

She was speaking at a roundtable discussion on Food Security, Import Substitution and Export Promotion held by the CSIR in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Science & Technology.

Prof. Quain said as a new crop in its space, it had to be taken through all the steps of acquiring, testing, going multi-locational, monitoring their yield, monitoring pests, monitoring soil and nutrient requirements.

That, she said, was to ensure that when it was taken through large-scale production, it would be successful.

She said the organisation would also have to work with the Plant Varietal Release Committee so that it would be a crop that was released in the country and utilised locally.

"It's not a one-time thing, it's a process. So, going through the process, we have to go through all these steps to ensure that we have done due diligence, and we can have the crop, manage it and produce locally for our utilisation," she emphasised.

Budget

Monetary wise, Prof. Quain said there was a budget of about $500,000 required to complete the research and development process, stating that "we have a budget of about half a million dollars that we require for a work of over five years to maintain that wheat initiative system at the research and we have been fortunate enough to have a private sector person from India partnering with us"

Prof. Quain said the CSIR was also part of a sub-regional initiative from South America, and all those initiatives were supporting financially the research that the institution was conducting currently.

"But then, we are open to support from the government for five years. It will set the system with all the key players in the wheat value chain," she said.

Food security

Earlier in a presentation, Prof. Quain, among other things, said roots and tubers could be relied upon for security in the country and the sub-region.

The Director-General of the International Potato Centre, Dr Simon Heck, told the media that the organisation had been working in the country for more than 30 years in Accra and Kumasi and was now in Tamale to develop improved varieties of sweet potatoes for better nutrition.

The prospects, he said, looked very good.

The Chief Director of the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, Suweibatu Adam, said in West Africa, roots, tubers and bananas (RTBs) were not only staple foods, but also sources of vital micronutrients and economic empowerment.

“Yet, despite their importance, RTBs face persistent challenges — low-yielding varieties, pests and diseases, poor soils and weak market linkages,” she said.