By Edzorna Francis Mensah
The University of Ghana, School of Agriculture, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, has organised an exhibition exercise to display Agric-Products and posters of research outputs by departments/centres at school premises as a precursor to the celebration of the 2024 Day of Scientific Renaissance slated for Friday, June 28, 2024.
The celebration was in recognition of a day championed by the Organisation of Africa Unity (OAU), now the African Union (AU), which in 1987 passed a resolution for the celebration of the Day of Scientific Renaissance of Africa (DSRA) on June 30 each year.
The core objective of the celebration is to remind African governments and people about the critical roles played by Science and Technology in national development. This is also done in remembrance of the continent’s great contribution to the rise and development of modern Science and Technology.
In an interview with GBC News, Dean of School of Agriculture Professor Irene S. Egyir said the soil science unit has already done some tests to understand carbon sequestration and the climatic issues. “We have mounted a weather station to explain how agriculture deals with climate science. So agriculture deals with a lot of different sciences, climate science and soil science.”
Talking about sustainable Farming for agribusiness Professor Irene said the sciences can lead the way to do business with agriculture-agribusiness, “so where we are again, is organic agribusiness. Everything you see here, from maize to vegetables to catfish to mushrooms to snails, is organic produce for a premium price, and that is managerial science. So this is more or less an on-campus academic job.”
As part of the celebrations, the department will next week go to Bawulashe and mount the same platform with the same agric products and interact with community people.
She said that this year, the university has adopted a theme to tackle Galamsey issues, which is destroying farmlands, be it “small-scale mining understand that there is also agriculture for that land use. And that is how the household members will understand that we are responsible for sustainable farming, to promote sustainable farming, to promote responsible production, responsible consumption. These are all SDGs that we are pushing. And that is what the day of scientific renaissance stands for. To get us to understand science, technology, engineering, math, and even the arts”.
Various units of the College-School of Agriculture, including Animal Science, Crop Science, Soil Science, Agricultural Extension, Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, and Family and Consumer Science, had something on display.
The University will host the main event on Friday 28th June, 2024. Under the theme “Galamsey: Preserving the Environment, Protecting Our Future at the Cedi Conference Centre”, it will be chaired by Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, the Vice-Chancellor.
