By Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo
The Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organisational (CIKOD) has re-emphasised the necessity for farmers to source local seeds for their operations.
The Deputy Executive Director of CIKOD, Daniel Banuoku who made the call at the 2024 Indigenous Seed and Food Festival at Tanchara in the Lawra District of the Upper West Region.
He pointed out that “local seeds form the basic foundation of the country’s agricultural system”, saying they are more resilient and adaptive to climate variability.
Mr Banuoku said if we are not able to protect and utilise our local seeds, we will be vulnerable to “corporate capture” as well as what he termed “another form of colonisation of the African continent”.
The Deputy Executive Director of CIKOD stated that in order for us not to lose out, farmers and the government must continue to work with local seed producers and also see to it that indigenous seeds are widely shared to improve the resilience of local communities.
The festival, which was imbued with merrymaking, saw women and a lot of young people in attendance dancing to folk music.
Another unique aspect of the event was the identification of seeds, which offered opportunity for the youth to interact with the older participants to identify the seeds as well understand their nutritional value.
A Dietician from the Babile Polyclinic, Soter Ninkpee, advised people to consume “local food” instead of relying on highly refined food that can expose them to noncommunicable diseases. He regretted that many a time, the locals resorted to selling the highly nutritious produce from their farms and then ended up buying refined products that compromised their nutritional and health status because they did not contain all the essential nutrients that their bodies needed.
The Organiser of the Tanchara Area Youth Association, Emmanuel Wafaanibe, was so excited about the event and praised CIKOD for organising the festival to create awareness on the utilisation of local seeds and said they will uphold the lessons learned and pass it on to others.
Another young fellow and student of Kaleo Secondary Technical School, Agartha Dery was equally excited about the seed and food festival.
She noted that it has given her an insight into the preparation of some of the local dishes on display as well as converting her to prefer what she described as “olden days food” to “modern-day food”.
