Working in partnership to enhance the conservation and use of the genetic resources of ILVs in Ghana

  31 July 2024 11:38am

The plant genetic resources of ILVs are the sum total of all the hereditary material available for this group of plants containing useful characters of actual or potential value. They are the basic raw materials for the improvement of ILVs. The PGR of ILVs can be found in wild relatives, ILV landraces of pre-scientific agriculture, bred varieties which are no longer being used and advanced varieties in current. In Ghana, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) - Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute (PGRRI), which is the National Genebank, has the mandate to collect, conserve and promote the utilization of plant genetic resources from Ghana and abroad.


By Yaw Kwateng, Daniel Ashie Kotey (PhD) and Lawrence Misa Aboagye (PhD)

Working in partnership to enhance the conservation and use of the genetic resources of Bambara Groundnut (BGN) in Ghana

  31 July 2024 09:54am

The plant genetic resources of BGN are the sum total of all the hereditary material available for this group of plants containing useful characters of actual or potential value. They are the basic raw materials for the improvement of BGN. The PGR of BGN can be found in wild relatives, BGN landraces of pre-scientific agriculture, bred varieties which are no longer being used and advanced varieties in current.


By Yaw Kwateng, Daniel Ashie Kotey (PhD) and Lawrence Misa Aboagye (PhD)

Adapt new varieties to improve crop yields…CSIR to farmers

  31 May 2024 03:14pm

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Institute (CSIR-Ghana) has implored farmers in the north to adopt “tech­nologically-driven” crop varieties to improve upon their crop yields.

CSIR-PGRRI advocates for conservation of Bambara Groundnut

  25 May 2024 04:39pm

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute (PGRRI) has disclosed plans aimed at conserving and utilizing the genetic resources of Bambara groundnut (BGN) in Ghana.

Farmers in Tamale Engaged on Indigenous Leafy Vegetable Production

  9 May 2024 10:49am

A day’s workshop has been organised in Tamale to engage farmers on the production of Indigenous Leafy Vegetables (ILVs) to enhance healthy dietary eating and nutrition.

Promoting indigenous leafy vegetables: CSIR engage farmers on participatory germplasm evaluation

  3 May 2024 12:54pm

Institutes under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) undertaking the “Seed for Resilience” project, have engaged farmers to update and take feedback on indigenous leafy vegetables production meant to enhance healthy dietary eating.

60 Farmers Benefit from Workshop on Traditional Leafy Vegetables

  1 May 2024 09:19pm

Sixty farmers from Boadi and Barekese in Kumasi are receiving training on traditional leafy vegetables.

Ghana becomes 100th depositor to safeguard key food crops in permafrost Seed Vault

  24 October 2023 03:21pm

Today, Ghana becomes the 100th depositor to deposit seeds in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, an important step towards ensuring the long-term protection of the country’s major food crops.

From Seedlings to Success:A Pepper Revolution?

  29 September 2023 11:46am

At Bosuso, a farming community nestled amidst rolling hills in the Fanteakwa South District of the Eastern Region, where agriculture is the backbone of the local economy, a change story is unfolding, driven by a simple yet powerful initiative: distributing pepper seedlings to local farmers.

Research-Farmer Engagement Leads to the Selection of Promising Amaranth Genotypes for Building Resilience and Enhancing Food Security at Libga

  15 September 2023 01:19pm

Libga, [August 29, 2023] — In a remarkable display of joint actions to enhance the use of the diversity of Amaranth germplasm at the CSIR-Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute (PGRRI), the National Genebank of Ghana farmers at Libga, and researchers from the CSIR-SARI, Nyankpala, and the CSIR-PGRRI, under the auspices of the Seeds for Resilience (S4R) Project , have jointly conducted participatory varietal selection (PVS) of Amaranth genotypes at Libga. The farmers who took part in the PVS are from the indigenous leafy vegetable (ILV) Germplasm User Group at Libga. Following the selection, seeds of the selected Amaranth genotypes which have traits that farmers find desirable, and which could enhance food security and nutritional value in the region would be multiplied and made available to members of a germplasm user group.


Written by Joseph Bandanaa (PhD) and Daniel A. Kotey (PhD)

The National Genebank CSIR-PGRRI;A Critical Investment for Ghana's Agriculture Sector

  17 April 2023 11:23am

The national genebank, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute (CSIR-PGRRI), was set up as a strategic investment for the agricultural sector in Ghana. As the national genebank, the CSIR-PGRRI is mandated to collect and conserve the plant genetic resources (PGR) of Ghana and to coordinate all PGR activities in the country. Plant genetic resources are the sum total of all hereditary material in a single (interbreeding) plant species containing useful characters of actual or potential value. They are the basic raw materials for crop improvement.


By Joseph Bandanaa (PhD), Emmanuel Boamah and Daniel Ashie Kotey (PhD)

CSIR–PGRRI introduces farmer varieties of Bambara groundnuts for trials by farmers in Upper East

  22 September 2022 04:49pm

The Bambara Groundnut is a traditional food crop largely cultivated by farmers in the northern parts of Ghana. It is a leguminous crop sometimes called Bambara Bean and is similar to regular beans or cowpea. Bambara groundnut is highly rich in protein.

CSIR-PGRRI Promoting the Cultivation of Indigenous Leafy Vegetables

The Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-PGRRI) is promoting the cultivation of indigenous leafy vegetables in the southern part of Ghana. These vegetables are nutritious with high protein and mineral contents, including calcium, phosphorus and manganese.

What does it take for a genebank to go online?

Over the course of the past year, the national genebanks of Ghana and Zambia have made available on Genesys passport data on some of their accessions. In an ideal world, accession-level data would already be digitized, centralized in a database and formatted according to MCPD v.2.1 standards. Then it would be a fairly simple matter to move it from the genebank’s database to Genesys. However, this is usually not always the case. For a lot of genebanks, making accession-level information of valuable crop samples available online to users around the world is in fact an enormous endeavor.

Govt Urged To Help Promote Under-Utilized Leafy Vegetables

  28 June 2022 02:13pm

Research Scientist at the Plant Genetic Resource and Research Institute has called on the government to help promote underutilized, neglected and orphan leafy vegetables since the level of nutrient contents and medicinal values in those vegetables are unbelievable and unmatched and needed to be given more attention to create awareness about their usefulness.

Taro Expansion Project Held in Akim Oda

As part of efforts to promote taro, an orphan and neglected, but a food security crop in Ghana, a cross section of farmers, scientists and staff of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, were exposed to activities on the crop and to whip the enthusiasm of the stake holders. The exposition which took place during the 31st Annual Ghana National Farmers day was held on 4th of December 2015 at Akim Akropong in the Atiwa district in the Eastern Region of Ghana, one of the participating towns selected for on-farm participatory evaluation.