Five Agric Colleges receive digital tools to drive climate-smart farming
Five colleges of agriculture in Ghana are witnessing a major transformation in teaching and learning with the introduction of digital technologies designed to prepare students for the changing demands of the agricultural sector.
Five Ghanaian agricultural colleges are embracing digital tools to enhance climate-smart farming practices, as part of a major initiative supported by the Korea International Cooperation Agency, World Food Programme, and the Ministry of Agriculture. The focus of this partnership is to equip students and faculty with the necessary digital skills and knowledge to tackle the evolving demands of the agricultural sector, ensuring graduates can effectively apply advanced technologies to boost productivity, efficiency, and resilience.
The digital package includes 60 moisture meters, soil testers, greenhouse environmental-control learning kits, IoT sensor education kits, weather station starter kits, GPS devices, agricultural spraying and drone-flight simulation systems, as well as agricultural data-processing software. These tools aim to provide students with hands-on experience in using cutting-edge technologies that are increasingly being utilized across the agricultural value chain.
Ghana's agricultural sector continues to grapple with various challenges, such as climate variability, declining productivity, pest and disease outbreaks, post-harvest losses, and limited access to vital information and markets. The global push towards adopting technologies like drones, Geographic Information Systems, IoT sensors, artificial intelligence, and digital farm-management platforms is rapidly growing, yet their adoption in Ghana remains limited, particularly among smallholder farmers.
Factors contributing to this slow adoption include gaps in digital skills, practical exposure, and access to appropriate technologies.
The equipment has been distributed to five colleges of agriculture, namely Kwadaso, Damongo, Wenchi, Ohawu, and Ejura. The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, emphasized that these modern agricultural tools will offer students invaluable practical experience with technologies that are becoming increasingly integral to the agricultural value chain.
He highlighted that the initiative will enable farmers to assess soil conditions prior to nutrient application, inform planting and farm management decisions using weather information, monitor soil moisture to improve water-use efficiency and reduce losses, and leverage drones, sensors, digital platforms, and data analytics to increase productivity.
Written by urgent.news from MyJoyOnline Ghana's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
This story
This is one outlet's version. Read the fullest account.
