CSIR-CRI TRAINS RICE SEED ENTREPRENEURS UNDER THE RICOWAS PROJECT
In a concerted effort to strengthen West Africa’s food security and shield local agriculture from climate vulnerability, scientists, seed producers, extension officers, and farmers recently gathered at the CSIR-Crops Research Institute at Fumesua for an intensive capacity-building workshoporganized under the Scaling-up Climate-Resilient Rice Production in West Africa (RICOWAS) project . The project aims to transform the sub-region’s rice sector through scaling of System of Rice Intensification technologies using community nd stakeholder led approaches. .
The training responds to a persistent gap in the country’s rice sector: while rice remains one of the fastest-growing staples in West Africa and a strategic food security crop grown across all of Ghana’s agro-ecological zones, certified seed production and adoption remains low. Many farmers continue to recycle their own seed rather than replace it at recommended intervals, leaving fields with mixed varieties, variable maturity and unpredictable yields — a gap the RICOWAS training set out to close by walking participants through the full journey from variety selection to a market-ready seed enterprise. Participants were drawn from rice – growing communities within the Southern Sector Hub of the RICOWAS project comprising the Volta, Oti, Ashanti, Western and Western North Regions of Ghana.
Welcoming participants, the Director of CSIR-CRI, Prof. Maxwell Darko Asante, underscored a pressing reality: while rice remains an essential staple across West African households, local supply continues to fall short of demand. Closing that gap, he stressed, requires equipping local actors with elite seed varieties, modern agronomic knowledge, and rigorous post-harvest practices.
Dr. Emmanuel Asamoah Adjei, a Senior Research Scientist and Seed Scientist at the CSIR-CRI, led participants through the entrepreneurship and registration requirements for venturing into certified rice seed production. The session covered Ghana’s seed law and the role of the Ghana Seed Inspection Division in certifying seed for genetic purity, physical quality and freedom from seed-borne disease. Participants were also taken through what it takes to run a viable seed business: market gaps and target customers, the breeder-to-grain value chain, sources of revenue such as direct seed sales and contract production, and the partnerships — from CSIR-CRI’s Seed Section to MoFA, AGRA and agro-dealer networks — that make a seed enterprise sustainable.
Choosing the Right Variety
In a session on variety selection, Dr. Kirpal Agyemang Ofosu, a Research Scientist and rice breeder at CSIR-CRI, set out the current state of rice production across West Africa and Ghana, and why the choice of variety is central to closing the yield and quality gap. He drew a clear contrast between farmer-saved seed , mixed, low-vigour and unpredictable and certified seed, which delivers uniform maturity, higher germination and more reliable yields. Participants were introduced to CSIR-CRI-bred varieties released for Ghanaian farmers, including CRI-Kang Mo and CRI-Tuo Mo, alongside CRI-Korea Mo, CRI-Agyapa and CRI-KAFACI Upland, and to the three qualities — distinctness, uniformity and stability — that define an officially recognised plant variety.
Good Agronomic Practices in the Field
Mr. William Lelabi Kota took participants through good agronomic practices for seed production, from site selection and land preparation to soil amendment, planting methods and water management. The session covered practical guidance on nursery systems for transplanting, correct seedling age and spacing, roguing off-types at key growth stages, and Alternate Wetting and Drying as a water-saving irrigation practice. It closed with guidance on judging crop maturity and the right time to harvest , timing that determines seed quality long before the crop reaches the drying floor.
From Field to Storage: Postharvest Handling
Dr. Asamoah Adjei led another session on postharvest handling and processing, walking participants through the full sequence of harvesting, sorting, threshing, drying, winnowing, treatment, packaging, storage, and quality control. The session weighed the trade-offs between manual and mechanical harvesting and threshing and set out best practices for drying seed safely to the 11% moisture content needed for storage ,underscoring that seed quality is won or lost as much after harvest as it is in the field.Seeing It in Practice
The classroom sessions were followed by field visits, giving participants the chance to see seed production practices demonstrated on the ground.
Looking Ahead
Delivering an Overview of the RICOWAS project, Dr. Agbesi Keteku, indicated that the RICOWAS project is a major initiative backed by ECOWAS and funded by the Adaptation Fund, implemented by the Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS) and partners like Cornell University. He added that the project aims to boost food security and reduce rice deficits in 13 West African countries by training farmers in advanced, climate-smart techniques like improved rice seeds, the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD), and organic matter management, and 4R Nutrient Stewardship to make rice production more productive and resilient to climate change.
He further stressed that by pairing regulatory and business grounding with hands-on agronomic and postharvest training, the RICOWAS rice seed production training will equip a new cohort of entrepreneurs to produce certified rice seed to standard ; a step CSIR-CRI sees as central to improving yields, farmer incomes and food security across Ghana’s rice-growing regions.The RICOWAS project (Southern Sector Hub) is led by Dr Stephen Yeboah, a Senior Research Scientist at the CSIR-Crops Research Institute.
Contributors: Bernard Sakyiamah, Agbesi K. Keteku, Stephen Yeboah, Dennis Gyasi Boakye, Enoch Bobie Agyemang
