Interplast Limited, Producers of high quality pipes and profiles on Wednesday unveiled its new Ultra-Modern Irrigation Production Line, the first ever drip irrigation pipe manufactured in West Africa.
Under the brand name of Ingreen Irrigation Solutions, the product provide solutions for irrigation systems for small, medium and large farms with drip or sprinkler systems, in addition to a wide range of complimentary products.
Mr Hayssam Fakhry, the Managing Director of Interplast Limited, speaking at the launch in Accra, said the system would augment the plan of government’s One Village One Dam project to boost farming output from year to year and for all seasons.
“This product, the Ingreen Drip System, is what the agriculture sector has been waiting for to become an all-year-round productive sector”, he added.
He explained that the drip irrigation system is the application of irrigation water to the roots of the plants by the use of drippers using low volumes of water, adding that the system ensures that, very little water is lost through evaporation, and their low flow allows large areas to be watered from the available water supply.
According to the Managing Director, after installing the system properly, pressurized water is released into the system, and that, once water reaches the drippers, after passing through the different irrigation system components, the drippers starts to emit water, drop by drop and the water penetrates the surface of the soil slowly and reaches the root zone of the plant.
He explained that the drip irrigation technologies help farmers to connect the irrigation network to water, and operate multiple irrigation systems from their office and receive automatically generated reports and alerts on their mobile phones or tablets.
“Interplast Limited is equipped with the most modern machinery available, using up to date and top of the range technology, as well as quality raw materials and current best standards to produce all our products,” he said.
He said the system helps to increase quality and production, reduces the need for weeding, compared to surface irrigation, reduces energy and water consumption and reduces diseases that are transferred via soil.
Dr Gyiele Nurah, the Minister of State, in Charge of Food and Agriculture, commended the innovative ideas of Interplast, adding that, the system would support the government policy of One District, One Dam, intended to expand agriculture in the country.
He said Interplast intervention was timely in addressing the link between the farmer and the farmland, making it easy to connect water to the farms, without waiting for rain.
Dr Nurah urged other private sectors to come up with new ideas to improve the agriculture sector and ensure food security.
Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, the Minister of Business Development said government had supported 1,200 entrepreneurs with funding to set up businesses, of which most of them were into farming to enable them to be more productive.
He stated that government was working assiduously to set up entrepreneurial education in the Senior High Schools and the tertiary institutions to imbibe the spirit of entrepreneurship among the youth.
He said government would continue to provide the needed enabling environment for Ghanaian businesses and the private sector to thrive and expand more to create job opportunities for the teeming youth.
Source: GNA