The Crops Research Institute (CRI) under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), is a public research institute established in 1964. The CSIR-CRI is the largest of the 13 Institutes under the council mandated to develop and transfer agricultural technologies relating to food and industrial crops in Ghana. With its headquarters in Kumasi, the vision of the Institute is to become a Centre of Excellence for agricultural research, innovation and capacity building for development in Ghana. As a result, the Institute aims at developing and disseminating appropriate demand-driven technologies for high and sustainable food and industrial crop production both at the national and international levels. The Institute is currently one of the best agricultural research institutions in Ghana conducting research and developing technologies on crops such as cereals (maize and rice), legumes (cowpea, soybean, groundnut and Bambara groundnut), root and tuber crops (cassava, yam, sweet potato and cocoyam), horticultural crops (plantain and banana), tropical fruits (citrus, mango, avocado, pineapple, cashew and pawpaw), vegetables (pepper, garden eggs, tomato, onion and leafy vegetables) and industrial crops like rubber. The Institute offers services and products to all the food and industrial crops value chain actors. Key among these actors are farmers (both individual and farmer groups), seed companies, agro-input suppliers, manufacturing companies, international agencies and government. Our competitors/collaborators are other technology generation institutions like the Universities, other research institutes like Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (CSIR- SARI), Non-governmental organizations like Adventist Development Relief Agency (ADRA), World Vision etc. What has made the Institute distinct from its competitors/collaborators is the quality of its service delivery and the high human resource base. With its high level of multi-disciplinary staff (112 Scientists and 65 technicians) in the area of agronomy, plant breeding, biotechnology, virology, Engineering (Soil and Water and Farm Machinery), entomology, weed science, socio-economy etc., the CSIR-CRI Institute is well-positioned to undertake all the activities under this project proposal. The Engineering section manages and supervises the Institutes irrigation system (both drip and sprinkler) that supports all-year-round crop production and research. The Institute has a state-of-the-art greenhouse setup for conducting aeroponics and hydroponics research in the production of seed yams. The Institute has an aquaponics-based food production centre that focuses on sustainable conservation agriculture. The centre integrates crop and animal production with fish culture in simply raised tanks in a closed-loop to utilize “waste” for soil improvement. The system ensures abundant production of fish and commonly consumed vegetables all year round to promote food and nutritional security for the farmer.
