Source: Ghana News Agency via Meridian Institute's Food Security and Ag-Biotech News

The Ghanaian government has given 7.6 billion cedis (US$855,000) worth of scientific equipment to two of the country's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) institutes, to enable research in agricultural biotechnology.

CSIR's Crop Research Institute in Kumasi, Ghana, will serve the northern portion of the country, focusing on building research capacity for the development of disease resistant crop varieties and higher yielding crops.

The Animal Research Institute, in Accra, Ghana, will serve the southern sector and will focus on biotechnology capacity building for the livestock industry. Its aim will be to achieve growth in meat and dairy production and the development of vaccines for livestock.

Emmanuel Owusu-Bennoah, the director-general of CSIR, said the institutes' biotechnology facilities will become fully operational after the passage of Ghana's draft National Biosafety Framework, which is currently before the country's cabinet. Owusu-Bennoah called on the government and all relevant stakeholders to devote more money to crop biotechnology research in Ghana so that the country can avoid dependence on seeds from multinational companies, which he said would cost farmers more money.

The article can be viewed online at
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=107201