They also received training and capacity building in vegetable production, as well as best agronomic practices to enable them to produce quality and healthy vegetables for the market.

The trial which involved showcasing the performance of improved varieties of tomato, pepper and onion, was implemented by the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI) under the Ghana Agricultural Technology Evaluation (GATE) Project, with financial support from SNV Netherlands Development Organization and African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF).

Dr. Leander D. Melomey, GATE Project Officer and a Research Fellow at WACCI, said the aim of the project was to enhance smallholder farmers' access and uptake of improved seeds of the three vegetable crops.

This would boost vegetable production in the country and improve farmers' livelihood.

It also aimed at assisting seed companies to deploy high yielding, well adapted and appropriate varieties of vegetable seeds to farmers in the country.

Mr. Louis Davis, Sales Officer for Louis Dreyfus Company Limited, a seed supply company, said the project would help improve farmers' access to quality improved seeds and best agronomic practices.

Mr. Bismark Nyarko, a vegetable farmer and beneficiary of the project, said he could now produce healthy, quality and high yielding vegetables as a result of the training programme.