Context
Increases in agricultural production must come from increased crop yield per hectare, and will rely on increased use of fertilizers and pesticides. The bulk of such agricultural inputs are chemicals, which often result in soil, water and food contamination, posing severe dangers to human health and the environment. In this context, the overall objective of this regional demonstration project was to introduce low cost, safe, economical, and environmentally-sound approaches to alternative pesticides, particularly neem-derived bio pesticides.
The project focused on promoting the use and development of production capacity of eco-friendly and cost-effective pesticide derived from Neem kernels, in three countries in West Africa: Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. It aimed to support national coordination, provide training to key personnel involved in field implementation, sensitize potential stakeholders and finalize individual work-plans. The production and use of Neem kernel-derived bio pesticides is aimed at boosting rural development, promoting agribusiness and micro-industries, alleviating poverty and generating employment, while at the same time strengthening environmental protection and eliminating health hazards by providing a low-cost bio-efficient alternative to toxic POPs and non-biodegradable chemical pesticides, and supporting organic food production.
Activities
The activities of the project include:
- Establishment of national coordination units and training of personnel.
- Transfer of low-cost production technology for producing neem-based pesticides to the national technical partners .
- Establishment of neem-production sheds.
- Dissemination of standardised technology for bio-pesticides production and application.
- Workshops to demonstrate pesticide production technology for replication and scaling up.
- Establishment of a regional network of countries based on RENPAP model.
Achievements
The key achievements of the project are:
- Technology transferred from India to the technical partner institutions in the participating countries viz Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
- 3 Pilot plant facilities for the production of neem-based pesticide established in all participating countries, i.e., one each in Ghana, Nigeria & Sierra Leone
- 4 Awareness raising and training sessions for project staff, extension workers and farming communities in all countries conducted, covering 100 participants.
- 4 Regional dissemination workshops conducted successfully to discuss the results of the Neem-based pesticides tested and evaluated. Covering 150 participants.
- More than 30 hands-on training sessions towards the demonstration of the neem based NKAE pesticide undertaken on different crops, for ~3000 participants.
- 1 fellowship training programme was conducted for 12 participants from the three beneficiary countries at two centres in India namely Neem Foundation, Nagpur and Vivekananda Institute of Bio-technology, Nimpith, West Bengal.
- Neem has been introduced in the curriculum of Ghana University where students were trained on the neem production and application using NKAE technology. Three batches of students have undertaken this course and graduated.
- A regional network of the three participating countries established to share the knowledge to promote neem based biopesticides in the region.
- Establishment of PPP-model resulted in establishing cooperative facilities which could be adopted at the village-level for (a) Neem seed collection (b) preparation of finished products (c) marketing and sale (d) education and training.
