Smallholder farmers drawn from Central and Western regions and other parts of the country have taken part in a short training course in tractor operation, maintenance, and management.
    
Organised under the auspices of the School of Agriculture, the training workshop forms part of the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences' extension activities to communities around the University and beyond.

A Senior Lecturer at the Department of Agricultural Engineering, Dr. Robert Sarpong Amoah, who took participants through farm implements with special focus on Agricultural tractor, said the Department was determined to modernise agriculture by training farmers to go into commercial farming to increase food production. He noted that the tractor was a self-propelled machine used extensively in mechanised agriculture.

The tractor, Dr. Amoah indicated, was "specifically designed to deliver mechanical energy at a high effort at low speed for the purpose of hauling other implements to perform specific activities on the farm". He pointed out that the tractor could be used to perform functions such as ploughing, harrowing, routine lawn care, landscaping, distribution of fertilizer and, tilling and planting of seeds on the farm. The Senior Lecturer also took participants through the main components of the tractor, as well as the kinds of tractors.

Speaking on the topic:" Selection and Costing of Farm implement, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Agriculture Engineering, Dr. Francis Kumi, noted that machinery and equipment were the major cost items in the farm business. "Farm Machinery costs can be divided into two categories: annual Ownership costs, which occur regardless of machine use, and Operating costs, which vary directly with the amount of machine use, “he added. He noted that larger machines, new technology, high prices for parts and new machinery, and high energy prices have caused machinery and power costs to rise in recent times".

However, he was quick to add that good managers could control machinery and power cost per hectare by making smart decisions about how to acquire machinery and when to trade them off. All these decisions, he pointed out, required accurate estimates of the costs of owning and operating farm machinery. The Head of the Department of Agriculture Engineering, Prof. Ernest Ekow Abano, in his welcome address, advised the farmers to take the training seriously to enable them to acquire the requisite skills and technical knowledge on how to operate tractors on the farm. He expressed the hope that the training would equip participants with the requisite knowledge and skills to build their capacity and improve food production.

Prof. Abano added that the workshop would be organised every two months and encouraged beneficiaries to share the success story with other farmers so as to enable them to take advantage of the next training workshop. 

The Dean of the School of Agric, Prof. Elvis Asare Bediako, who chaired the workshop, admonished participants to bear in mind that tractors could be very dangerous if not carefully managed. He, therefore, asked them to pay rapt attention to the training sessions and apply the skills and knowledge gained in their various operations. He underscored the importance of farm machinery management in the holistic progress of agriculture.

As part of the workshop, participants were taken through practical sessions on how to drive both two-and four-wheel tractors as well as using them for farming operations.
 

The Department of Basic Education has been called upon to collaborate with the government to turn the fortunes of the country around through education.

The Deputy Education Minister in charge of Basic & Secondary Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, who made the call, said the initiation of the transformation of education in Ghana was not only coming from the government but all stakeholders in the education sector. He noted that early childhood in education in the country, according to the World Bank, had performed abysmally in proficiency since 2015 and, therefore, charged the Department to play its complementary role to salvage the state of Basic Education in Ghana.

The Deputy Education Minister in charge of Basic & Secondary Education made the call when he joined students and lecturers to mark the 25th anniversary of the Department on the theme: “Quality Education: A Pivot for Human Resource Development”. He said the world was using “reading as a proxy for how well children are learning in other subjects”, adding, “If they can’t read, how can they do Social Studies, History or Geography? So when the child is proficient in reading, then there are many other things that they can do”.He indicated that the government was building Kindergartens (KGs) across the country through the “One million dollar per constituency initiative” stating that “For example, in my constituency through the One million dollar per Constituency Initiative, I have built about four KGs”, he added
He commended the Department for adopting some basic schools in communities close to the University adding that “Focus on these schools and ensure that every pupil can read by age 10”. That, he said, the Department would have contributed immensely not just to the school but the fortunes of the child and the society.

The Deputy Minister, who is also the Member of Parliament for Bosomtwe Constituency in the Ashanti Region, said the future of Ghana was in the hands of Basic School Educators and could not be determined by only politicians. He asked the Department: “What if we could raise volunteers about 100,000 and each one of them taught one child to read at the proficiency level? What will happen to that child? The child’s future will be different.”

Dr. Adutwum said quality education involved the professional development of teachers. He further stated that “Quality education is also about supervision, pedagogy and the curriculum aimed at improving learning outcomes, as well as the learning environment and nutritional programmes to attract and keep learners at school”.
 
The Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof Dora Edu-Buandoh, who chaired the function, expressed discomfort over the dying spirit of volunteerism and patriotism among younger people in the country. She noted that the youth remained the fulcrum of society, and concerted efforts were required to help instill a sense of love for nation and civility in them so that they would grow and render selfless services to the nation.
As part of the anniversary, the Deputy Minister, together with other senior members of the University Community, inspected an exhibition mounted by students of the Department.