Stakeholders, IITA validate AKILIMO Cassava material translated into Twi, Ewe
Stakeholders have validated a documentation on cassava, known as ‘AKILIMO’, meant for the dissemination of best practices in cassava production.
AKILIMO is coined from a combination of two Swahili words – Akili meaning Smart/Intelligent - and Kilimo meaning Agriculture, which loosely translates as Smart Agriculture, and the literature has been translated from English into Twi and Ewe languages.
Developed by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the concept, a digital agronomy platform, is designed to provide tailored advice to cassava farmers on fertiliser use, weed management, intercropping of maize and cassava, and scheduling for planting and high starch production.
The digital tools were generated from field trials and crop modelling to offer site-specific recommendations through various interfaces such as printable guides, worksheets, postcards, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), among others.
The stakeholder engagement and interactions, which are part of the co-creation of agricultural materials, held at Adako-Jachie near Ejisu in the Ashanti Region, were attended by cassava farmers, extension officers and other value chain actors, specifically drawn from seven regions, namely Ashanti, Oti, Volta, Bono, Bono-East, Central and Savannah.
Materials
The Scaling Specialist and AKILIMO Coordinator for Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania, Dr Thompson Ogunsanmi, said 12 materials have been translated into the two languages to support farmers engaged in cassava farming.
As an important step, he said there was a need for the workshop to be organised for the purpose of co-creating the development of the materials together with farmers and extension officers who are the end-users, saying “it became necessary to get the buy-in of these key stakeholders to make the materials better”.
Aside from these materials, he indicated that the next stage was to translate AKILIMO farmer-friendly videos into the languages as well. This will assist farmers in the dissemination of the best agricultural practices on cassava to increase yield.
On when the materials would be available to farmers, Dr Ogunsanmi said once the materials had been validated, thousands of copies would be printed, which would be available to the farmers and extension officers in September.
Farmer-friendly
A Principal Agricultural Officer, Ashanti Regional Department of Agriculture, Yaa Pokuaa, said the workshop afforded the participants the opportunity to check whether the materials were farmer-friendly.
She stated that the materials would make it easier for the farmers to easily understand best cassava farming practices, thereby making it easier for them to adopt the required technology to shore up cassava production.
Participants speak
A cassava farmer from Dzodze, Fredricka Selasie, said initially she lacked knowledge of some farming practices, but the translated materials would help her to grow her cassava after proper understanding of the AKILIMO innovation.
An Agricultural Extension Officer at the Department of Agriculture in the Mampong Municipality, Michael Amu, said considering the low formal education level of some farmers, the new material would make it simple for extension officers to seamlessly educate the farmers.
“Hitherto, officers must carefully read such materials and fully understand them before interpreting them into the local dialects for the farmers to understand.
Obviously, the translated material will reduce the workload on us since with a simple explanation, the farmers will grasp it,” he said.
Writer’s email:gilbert.agbey@graphic.com.gh
