CSIR Warns Indigenous Crops Are Fast Disappearing in Ghana

Ghana: The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has warned that several indigenous Ghanaian crop varieties are gradually disappearing from farms and dining tables, even as demand and prices for the crops continue to rise on international markets. According to Ghana Web, the Director of the Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute at Bunso, Dr. Daniel Ashie Kotey, noted that many traditional crops once common in Ghanaian households were becoming scarce, raising concerns about the permanent loss of valuable plant genetic resources. 'The West is looking for these, our indigenous stuff, which are way healthier, and they are pricing them higher,' Dr. Kotey said. He described the situation as a 'quiet emergency' in Ghana's food and farming systems, explaining that indigenous crop varieties were steadily disappearing from both farms and dining tables. The institute has been conserving thousands of crop varieties and maintaining duplicate collections at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway to safeguard the country's agricultural heritage. Ghana became the 100th institution worldwide to deposit seeds at the facility in October 2023, sending varieties of maize, rice, eggplant, and cowpea. 'If we lose everything in Ghana, we can recall some of this material,' Dr. Kotey noted. Dr. Kotey cited water yam, locally known as Afase?, yellow yam (Mankani), and African rice (Oryza glaberrima) among indigenous crops that have declined in cultivation and consumption over the years. He added that even among crops that remain widely grown, such as cowpea, traditional varieties are being abandoned in favor of larger-seeded and faster-cooking alternatives. Dr. Kotey attributed the decline to changing consumer preferences, climate change, urbanization, and farming practices that reduce biodiversity. 'Our kids no longer eat some of the things that we used to eat,' he said, explaining that reduced consumption discourages farmers from cultivating the crops. The Bunso-based institute currently conserves about 6,000 ac cessions of crop genetic resources, including more than 600 varieties each of maize, rice, and cowpea, alongside hundreds of tomato and pepper varieties. Beyond conservation, the institute supplies planting materials to farmers, researchers, breeders, and students and reproduces rare varieties when demand exists. 'The value of what we do is justified by use. If we collect and conserve and nobody uses them, there's no point,' Dr. Kotey said. He stressed that the institute's mission is to ensure Ghana's agricultural heritage remains available for future generations. 'We make sure that the chapters of our food heritage are not lost forever. We are the library that makes sure that future generations can have access to these things,' he said.