**6. Grafting technology**

Grafting refers to the union between two plant parts (scion and rootstock) to produce a single plant [32]. it is an environmentally friendly method of controlling soil-borne pathogens and improving the yield of susceptible vegetable cultivars [39]. Grafting technology was first deployed in Asia by grafting watermelon scions onto squash rootstocks [40]. Grafting technology was developed to curb the indiscriminate use of insecticides and fungicides by farmers in vegetable cultivation. Farmers controlled biotics stress in vegetable cultivation by spraying pesticides which raised health concerns. However, the use of resistant grafted varieties offers the best solution to biotic and abiotic stresses [41]. The rootstock is usually an adapted cultivar that is tolerant or resistant to either biotic or abiotic stresses and develops into the rooting system of the grafted plant. The scion which develops into the shoot of the grafted plant is most susceptible to the biotic and abiotic stresses and is selected for its desirable fruit characteristics and quality. Grafting, therefore, offers the opportunity to combine the desirable traits of the two plants into a superior grafted plant with resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses and increased yield [42]. Grafting technology was first adopted in vegetable production to control soil-borne diseases such as Fusarium wilt in the Cucurbitaceae and Bacterial wilt in the Solanaceae families [43]. However, grafting technology has been deployed to produce drought tolerant, nematode resistant, low temperature tolerant, heavy metal tolerant, high salt-tolerant, and nutrient efficient vegetable varieties [44–46]. Notwithstanding the opportunities grafted technology offers, there are challenges associated with the technology. Some of the challenges include;


*Harnessing Technologies for Vegetable Cultivation: A Panacea for Food and Nutrition Insecurity… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.101877*


Several methods of grafting the scion onto the rootstock are available. However, the technique to use depends on the crop, size, and age of the seedling and the compatibility between the two plants [43]. A careful selection of the rootstock and scion is imperative in obtaining successfully grafted plants. Some of the techniques in grafting include cleft grafting, tube grafting, hole insertion grafting, and approach grafting [47, 48]. After grafting, the seedlings are allowed to heal and harden before being planted in the field. For successful healing, the grafted seedlings are kept in a dark place with high relative humidity. These conditions in the healing environment promote early healing and survival of the seedlings. Grafting technology has proven to be a reliable control method for biotic and abiotic stresses in vegetable cultivation and can be adopted as a control method to manage the challenges posed by these stresses to the vegetable sector in Ghana.

### **7. Information technology in vegetable production in Ghana**

The rapid evolution of information technology (IT) is revolutionizing agriculture in a way that appreciably reduces risks associated with vegetable cultivation. Areas of IT application include diseases and pests' surveillance and management; soil water, irrigation, and fertility; weather alerts and forecasting; marketing; training and agricultural extension; transport and storage among others. Although great strides have been made there in some of these areas, others are still at the explorative phase and accuracy might not be as expected. For example, the accuracy of mobile applications for detecting many insect pest species are very low to be reliably used by an ordinary farmer. Plant symptoms, however, reliably give the type of group of pests and recommend good intervention. The identification of diseases with mobile phone and computer applications is more precise.

#### **7.1 IT in climate smart vegetable production systems**

Climate change resulting in a change in weather pattern from what has been established as the norm for centuries greatly influences agricultural productivity, especially vegetables. This is because the majority of vegetables are less hardy hence have less tolerance to drought and high temperatures. For this reason, the use of IT tools helps mitigate some of these adverse effects. There are a number of IT platforms that forecast the weather for specific locations. These platforms can forecast rainfall, relative humidity, temperature, ultraviolet index, wind speeds for about 2 weeks ahead of time. This weather information can assist in planning and determining the appropriate planting time over the stipulated period. The Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) also provides a yearly forecast for the onset of rain after the dry season, rainy months, intensity, and abatement for all the major ecological zones. With these information, farmers can schedule when to plant a particular vegetable under rain-fed conditions. Some radio stations and television

stations also provide daily rainfall and temperature in the mornings or evenings. These help in daily farm schedules.

There are also automated systems for greenhouse vegetable production. Soil moisture, ambiance humidity, and temperature are remotely assessed and adjusted appropriately for optimal growth of crops. This efficiently mitigates against unpredictable climate variability, thereby facilitating vegetable production at all times.

Climate change also has the propensity of changing pests and diseases phenology [49] which may come at the blind side of the vegetable grower. Certain pest populations and diseases are known to surge at specific months of the year due to their accompanying rainfall and humidity patterns [50]. However, erratic rainfall patterns can disrupt these established times thereby shifting pests and diseases dynamics. For example, thrips and spider mites' outbreaks in vegetables are associated with droughts [51]. On the other hand, the surge in fungal diseases such as leaf blight and anthracnose are associated with high rains [52]. Based on these premises, deductions from weather forecasts help predict what pests and diseases to expect at any stage of vegetable cultivation. This foreknowledge allows the vegetable grower to scout and implements interventions as early as possible in order to reduce crop losses and also cut down the cost of management.

#### **7.2 Pests and diseases identification and management tools**

According to [53] estimated 20–40% of global crop production is lost to pests and crop diseases cost about \$220 billion. At the local level pests and diseases has the potential to cause substantial loss and in extreme cases absolute loss, depending on the type of pest or disease, tolerance level of crop variety, and stage of infestation. Traditionally, several approaches have been used to identify and manage pests and diseases. These include experiential knowledge by the farmer as the crop is cultivated over time, acquaintance with the experienced farmer, agricultural extension, and farmer-researcher interactions. The digital space now offers a novel strategy to complement these traditional strategies. There are a number of mobile phone and portable computer applications that allow vegetable growers to identify plants, diseases, and pests as well as possible management options. A user takes and uploads a close-up photo of the pest or plant with signs of pest or disease infestation. The application matches the uploaded photo with a repository for the best match. It must be emphasized that identifications by these applications are not absolute and their accuracy is still being enhanced. For some applications, however, the user has the option of manually searching after the application has automatically filtered out unlikely candidates. When there are no search matches or the user deemed the results as inaccurate, some applications further allow the photo to be forwarded to a pool of experts. Experts then give feedback when correctly identified.

Drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are gradually being used in pests, diseases, and weeds' surveillance as well as water stress monitoring in agricultural production in recent times. Multispectral cameras attached to the drone scan the cropped field and based on color reflectance due to crop response to stress, such as pest or disease infestation, are able to identify these stresses. The advantage of this over traditional scouting is that infestation or stress can be detected way before they become visible to the naked eye. These IT systems facilitate early intervention and are also cost-effective [54, 55].

Another IT pest predictive and advisory IT platform is based on established degree-days of specific insect pests – rates of development of insects and many organisms are dictated by temperature, and require a fixed amount of heat to develop from one stage to another. This physiological development time is quantified into degree-day, and this is used to make predictions and recommend management

*Harnessing Technologies for Vegetable Cultivation: A Panacea for Food and Nutrition Insecurity… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.101877*

actions [56]. This is well-patronized platform in many of the developed countries. The user key in some basic information such as type of crop, planting date, and location, and the system will generate pest management timelines to follow. In Africa, the degree-day model for pest management is being piloted on selected pests including the American tomato leaf miner (*Tuta absoluta*) in Kenya, Ghana, and Zambia under the Pest Risk Information SErvice (PRISE) (www.prise.org). The development of such IT tools to cover more vegetables and their associated pests will help rationalize the use of insecticides leading to minimizing residues in the produce.

#### **7.3 Extension services**

It is important in raising agricultural productivity, improving food security and nutrition as well as reducing poverty among the poor. Agricultural extension mediates these by extending research advancements and new knowledge in agriculture to end-users, particularly farmers. Although agricultural extension has been in existence in Ghana for over a century, its expected impact on vegetable production is still lagging. This is due to the high extension officer to farmer ratio, low funding, and poor farm accessibility. Vegetable production is, however, a sector that requires constant information exchange among the actors. It is also through a good extension system that new IT tools that enhance vegetable productivity can be introduced to farmers. Traditionally, extension practitioners physically interact with farmers and thus are restricted by time and space. This is where the e-agricultural system, which is more versatile is very helpful. E-extensions involve using the power of online networks, computer communications, and digital interactive multi-media to facilitate the dissemination of agricultural technology. There are a number of tools and techniques available for e-extension and they include personal computers/laptops, mobile phones, USSD technologies, call centers, Twitter interactive white boards, Facebook, WhatsApp, interactive voice response systems, TV, radio, SMS, etc. The current wide usage of mobile phones has made it the most preferred medium for the transfer of new agricultural technology to farmers. Through WhatsApp groups, for instance, an extension officer can connect with several farmers and other value chain actors for the exchange of information.

Scientific Animation Without Borders (SAWBO) is a digital animation platform that uses animation in addressing constraints and teaching good agricultural practices. It allows experts to design video animation to address a defined constraint, including pests and diseases. It can also be designed to target a specific audience, and thus audio could be in any dialect (https://sawbo-animations.org). SAWBO is a handy IT platform for the easy delivery of agricultural extension services to vegetable producers.

#### **7.4 Postharvest handling technologies of vegetables**

Majority of vegetables physically deteriorates quickly after harvesting due to the inherent rapid breakdown of tissues, physiological changes such as respiration, transpiration, etc. Good postharvest management practices and facilities are required to increase the shelf life of vegetables. Facilities such as harvesting and collection tools, containers and packing, rapid and cold chain transportation, and commercial storage are key to a successful vegetable postharvest value chain. Some companies are leveraging on IT solutions to address some of these postharvest management nodes such as offering cold transportation and storage for a network of farmers (**Table 1**).

High temperatures and sometimes low humidity in the markets hasten the deterioration of vegetables. Some tropical countries have successfully used low-cost zero-energy cool chambers for temporary storage, pending sales, to prolong the shelf life of vegetables [58]. Piloting this technology in the traditional vegetable markets should be considered.

#### **7.5 Digital marketing and use of social media to enhance the visibility of vegetable producers**

Digital marketing, according to [59] is the use of the internet, mobile devices, social media, search engines, and other channels to reach consumers. It is considered a new means of marketing products and services through understanding and keeping abreast of customer behavior, which tends to be different from traditional marketing. Digital marketing is generally interactive and customers can give feedbacks. Customers are attracted via email, content marketing, search platforms, social media among others. The focus here is social media since little skills are required, cheap, and easy to use, which is more likely to be easily acceptable to the majority of Ghanaian or African farmers.

Many social media users in Ghana and many countries in sub-Saharan Africa tend to focus on the entertainment aspect of these powerful electronic tool. Statuses of millions of users on Facebook, WhatsApp, Snapchat, etc. are flooded with funny media, selfies, and all manner of commentaries. Considering that there are about 2.5 million agricultural households in Ghana with a population of 11.3 million and 55% mobile phone adoption, leveraging on social media can improve productivity along the agricultural value chain. In terms of marketing in the food chain, only the fast-food subsector has taken advantage of social media in marketing their products, especially in the urban areas. However, vegetable sales and consumption are steadily increasing because many people are actively increasing vegetable proportion in their diet because of their health benefits. This means the vegetable supply chain covering agro-input selling, labor services, transportation, and marketing needs to explore social media. This could be simple advertisements on Facebook wall, Instagram, statuses of other social media handles, and more importantly social media group platforms, which come at practically no cost. Social media group platforms such as that of the old school, church, clubs, etc. may have celebrities or influential persons. These personalities may agree to freely share advertisements on their private social media handles to catch the attention of their huge followers. The pay services by these social media outlets are also available to market vegetables.

Many consumers are skeptical about sources of vegetables consumed because of practices such as the misapplication of pesticides and the use of contaminated water. To allay fears of consumers, vegetable producers can set themselves apart by following the best practices outlined in this book and making short videos of their production practices. These videos could be shared on YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp, etc. Agro input (seeds and fertilizer) tracking to authenticate their genuineness, effectiveness with the aid of IT is provided by some IT companies. Similar tracking of source and production information of agro produce is also available (**Table 1**). These give credibility and consumer satisfaction to the agro produce, giving it an edge over others. The national e-agriculture and other private IT platforms that vegetable growers can benefit from are listed in **Table 1**.

#### **8. Advancement of technologies in vegetable production in Ghana**

This section gives a description of advancement technologies in vegetable production in Ghana based on genetic improvement, soil fertility improvement, Irrigation as well as pest and diseases management practices. It also shows the

**IT platform/service provider Available services IT services formats Link** AcquahMeyer Drone Tech Agricultural drone services for pests & diseases management https://amdronetech. com Digital Agricultural Innovation Hub (DAIH) 4-in-1 portals/ hubs on marketing, extension, scientific article repository and technological repository Mobile App (Agritech Advisor), web portal http://technologies. csirgh.com , http:// csirspace.csirgh.com , http://kuafo.csirgh. com , http://agritech. csirgh.com Agroseal Commodity trading/marketing and training for smallholder farmers Web portal https://agroseal.com AgroCenta Marketing, produce transportation IVR, SMS https://agrocenta.com CABI Plantwise E-resources and MoFA extension staff field visits Mobile app, Web portal, plant doctor services in collaboration with MoFA https://plantwise.org CRI TV Dissemination of CSIR developed agro packages Web portal, online TV channel https://critivgh.com Complete Farmer Crowd farming, Marketing IoT https://completefarmer. com Coologi-Green Tech Cold storage https://coologi.com CSIR Soil Information Soil profile data (physical, chemical, suitability, fertility) for all locations in Ghana Web portal www.csirsoilinfo.org DigiExt Remote sensing/ drone for pest & disease management, marketing, agric machinery rentals SMS, call service https://digiext.com ESOKO Vodafone farmer's club: farming advice, weather updates, market price and free calls between members (only Club's dedicated Vodafone SIM); data collection & digitization; biometric profiling; analytics Call center, Interactive Voice Response System (IVR) https://esoko.com Farmerline Input distribution, farmer training, weather updates, SMS, Android, voice messaging https://farmerline.co

and market prices

*Harnessing Technologies for Vegetable Cultivation: A Panacea for Food and Nutrition Insecurity… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.101877*


*ministry-food-and-agriculture-republic-ghana; https://startupfacility.com; https://csirgh.com/*

#### **Table 1.**

*Information technology agricultural platforms available to vegetable growers in Ghana.*

characteristics of research and farmers' involvement in advanced technologies in vegetable production.
