BONO REGIONAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE REPORTS ON THE RESEARCH AND EXTENSION LIAISON COMMITTEE (RELC)

The RELC Planning Session is a platform instituted to enable stakeholders in the agricultural sector to share ideas on issues affecting the development of agriculture in the country. It has been identified that there is a weak linkage between the various stakeholders within the agricultural value chain hence the need to improve upon the existing linkages while building new ones for effective collaboration.

The platform helps stakeholders, including researchers, extension service providers, NGOs, farmers, processors, and local authorities among others to identify constraints affecting various stakeholders, offer possible strategies to solve the identified problems, prepare action plans to deal with these issues by the researchers, extension service providers and policymakers.

The RELCs Planning Sessions also serve as a platform for policymakers to offer a bottom-top or demand-driven approach to problem-solving. This means the stakeholders at the production stage and in the rural areas, who form the majority in the agriculture sector, need to be reached out to interact with them.

The 2022 Regional Planning Session was held on the 18^th and 19^th of October at the Legon Distance Learning Center. During this session, a review of the previous year’s RELC plan was carried out to;

1. Determine constraints that were implemented and completed in  2022
2. Stage of implementation of other interventions, and
3. Reasons for not implementing some of the planned activities.

Some of the activities implemented from last year’s issues included radio programmes by the Veterinary Services Department (VSD) and training of the poultry farmers on H5N1, training of Vet, Extension, and Livestock officers on Avian Influenza, rabbit hemorrhagic, African Swine Fever, and improving observatory skills of livestock farmers among other activities.

The issues identified from this year’s sessions were categorized and prioritized and work plans were developed for implementation in 2023. These include anthracnose and mealy bags, BBS in mango, rhinoceros beetle infestation and fruit fly management on alternative host plants and volunteer plants. Others include early and late blight, chili dieback and tomato leaf miner.