Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Kwaku Afriyie
Dr Kwaku Afriyie, Minister of Environment, Science Technology and Innovation (MESTI) has challenged the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), to come out of its ‘silos,’ and make itself more visible to the public.
Dr. Afriyie, threw the challenge to the CSIR and its Institutes when he visited some of its facilities in Accra on Thursday, to familiarise himself with their work and assess their needs to be able to advocate for more support from the government for their effective operations.
He said although the CSIR was doing many wonderful things and had achieved tremendous successes over the years, most of these results and data had not been widely publicized.
This was because most of the Institutes under the Council had been working in ‘silos’ although they shared mandate with other sectors such as Trade and Industry, Education, Agriculture, Water, and Sanitation as well as the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, he said.
Dr. Afriyie encouraged the CSIR to make conscious efforts by engaging the media to make itself visible enough for the public to know much about their activities.
The Minister said the CSIR, for instance, had been at the fore of providing improved seeds, (about 90 percent) for supply to farmers under Planting for Food and Jobs, which was one of the Government’s flagship programs.
He commended the Soil Research Institute (SRI) and Water Research Institutes (WRI) respectively, for the numerous studies carried out to ascertain the quality of soil and water for various purposes including domestic, industrial, and agriculture, saying, some of these data had positively guided and influenced government policies for areas such as the extractive, mining and aquaculture industries.
Mr. Afriyie stated that strengthening collaborations with other sectors, particularly at the operational level was crucial, saying, the country would for instance be saved from the huge cost of procuring and supplying fertilizers for the agricultural sector, due to the existing data on soil and water quality that could effectively aid decisions for crop production and irrigation purposes.
He said in terms of water resource management, it was important that the country passed a law that made it mandatory for all the big entities to submit their effluent for periodic tests and not be allowed the laxity to do this voluntarily.
The Minister, however, said despite the hard work being done at the CSIR, the issue with a high cost of electricity consumption, which was an impute resource for its Institutes, posed a great challenge to their effective operations, and urged their Directors to do a cost analysis and submit a proposal to the Ministry for further advocacy for change.
“I can conveniently assure you of government’s commitment to the promotion of Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) for socio-economic development of the country,” and further indicated that the Ministry was also working towards the improvement of the visibility of the CSIR as far as related ministries were concerned.
He said the Presidency, Cabinet, and Parliament attached great importance to the concerns of STI to ensure that this institute was well-positioned to develop and disseminate appropriate technologies for sustainable management of water resources in the country.
The Minister was earlier welcomed by Dr. Wilhelmina Quaye, the Director of the Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (CSIR-STEPRI), who gave an overview of the operations of their operations, after which he was conducted round the laboratories of the SRI and the WRI for a first-hand briefing by the various Institutional heads.
Professor Mike Yaw Osei-Atweneboana, the Director of the CSIR-WRI, made a presentation covering the history of the Institute, vision, and mission, with the key objective of becoming a center of excellence in the provision of scientific research into water and related resources for sustainable socio-economic growth.
He cited some major achievements of the WRI as the development and supply of fast-growing fingerlings of tilapia and catfish species for the aquaculture industry, fish farm assessment, selection, design and management, and techniques for their integration into poultry, piggery, and vegetable farming systems.