The training was aimed at providing technical support to farmers at the community level on rice cultivation technologies, to afford them the capacity to resolve problems experienced in rice cultivation.

The series of training began last year to help the successful completion of the Rice Value Chain project by the end of 2023.

Last Thursday, one of such training workshops comprising both theoretical and practical sessions was facilitated by seasoned experts in the rice production sector.

Ninety farmers from the Gomoa East, Assin Akropong in the Assin Fosu Municipality and Assin Breku in the Assin North districts went through the training.

The project is being funded by the Republic of South Korea, through the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), in partnership with the government, through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

The training programmes have been organised by BENDA Services Group, the local implementing partner, in partnership and under the supervision of Dankook International Cooperation on Agriculture (DICA), the RVC improvement project management consultant.

Launched in June 2021, the RVCIP is a project to improve the rice value chain in the Central Region.

The project is funded by KOICA, with the prime goal of improving the quality of life of farmers in the region through increased rice output, strengthened post-harvest management capacity, improved rice processing and packaging and strengthened capacity for farmer-based organisations, as well as marketing support.

Rice campaign

To further spread the impact of the RVCIP across the region, a subsidiary programme dubbed the “Central Region Movement for Planting One More Square Metre of Rice for the Next Generation” was launched by the Central Regional Minister, Justina Marigold Assan.

To maximise the impact of these projects, about 450 smallholder rice farmers would be trained this year to improve rice production technologies.

The practical sessions have been organised on the community demonstration plots in the nine participating project communities and the seed production field at Okyereko in the Gomoa East District.

The Project Manager, Dr Haegon Chung, said the training session was one of the local capacity development strategies lined up to enhance the knowledge and practical skills of local farmers in modern rice cultivation.

Dr Chung noted that the training was focused on enhancing the practical skills of farmers to achieve the objective of the campaign to “plant one more square meter rice for the next generation”, which was launched by Mrs Assan on February 8, 2023.

At the launch of the campaign, the KOICA Country Director, Moo Heon Kong, donated 2.5 tonnes of high quality rice seed to the minister to support the campaign and gave the assurance that the necessary technical assistance would be offered to achieve the objective of the campaign.

He indicated that the RVCIP was implemented in five beneficiary districts in the Central Region, including Gomoa East, Assin Fosu North, Assin South and Twifo Morkwa in 2021 and 2022.

“The training was therefore the fulfilment of the country director’s promise,” he said.