CSIR -Forestry Research Institute of Ghana in partnership with Millennium Bank, UK with Royal Botanic Garden Kew has organised a course on New Technique for seed Conservation at Fumesua near Kumasi.
The training programme aimed at learning new techniques of conserving seeds in partnership with Millennium Bank, UK and Royal Botanic Garden, which is the number one seed Bank in the world to offer training with participants drawn from Ghana, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Dr Joseph Mireku Asomaning, Director CSIR-FORIG noted at the opening ceremony that the rate at which spices are losing because of climate shifting is alarming.
He said as a result of the loss of seeds in the forests and gardens for climate shifting, there was the need to collect seeds in their habitat, process them and put them under cool storage.
He indicated that they could be of plantation food crop, food chain or forest chain, which must be conserved for posterity, because without seeds there would be no food.
He noted that there is the need to conserve every available seed to ensure that there would be food security and expressed the view that we can combat climate change through additional forest.
Dr. Mireku Asomaning disclosed that there was the need to keep the seeds at the seed bank for distribution for planting activities in Ghana.
He reiterated that CSIR-FORIG is the number one source of seed and seedlings in Ghana for plantation activities and, therefore, release them every year because there are some spices which have to be kept for long term storage.
Timothy R. Pearce, Conservation Partnerships Coordinator – Africa Conservation Science, Millennium Bank, explained that they work together with Ghana, Sierra Leone and Guinea to make sure they use best practices in the conservation of seeds, particularly tree seeds and ultimately how they can supply the seeds to the people.
According to him, there are small advances they could make to radically improve the way the seed can be kept alive and keep them ready for people to use with very high quality to deliver.
According to him, their seeds grow with good vigour and very high quality with a very qualified growing population.
