Conservation of indigenous rice varieties by women of Gore in the northern savanna zone, Ghana - Managing Agrodiversity the Traditional Way - page 102

Table 9.2 Characteristics of indigenous rice varieties grown by women farmers at Gore
in the Bawku area of Ghana as mentioned by farmers

History of Yield

Duration Paddy Grain cultivation potential

IRV Ecology (days) colour colour (years) (tonne/ha)

Asakira Upland 90 Brown White 20 2.5-3.0

Asamolgu Hydromorphic 90 Brown White 20 2.5-3.0

Nagamui Upland 90 Red 20 2.5-3.0

Santie Upland 90 Straw White 10 2.5-3.0

Agonsanga Upland 90 Straw White 6 3.0-3.5

Peter Upland 90 Straw Dirty 5 2.5-3.0

white

Abunga Lowland 115-120 Red White 25 3.0-3.5

Agona Lowland 115-120 Brown White 20 3.0-3.5

Agongula Lowland 115-120 Straw Red 10 3.0-3.5

Mr Moore Lowland 115-120 Straw White 20 3.0-3.5

Mendi Lowland 90 Brown White 5 3.0-4.0

Worigaworiga Upland NA Straw Spotted 6 2.5-3.0

red

Musabelig Upland NA Dirty Red 30 2.5-2.5

straw

Table 9.3 Yield of rice varieties in on-farm trials at Gore (mean for 1998 and 1999
growing seasons)

Variety Yield of paddy (tonnes/ha)

IR-24 3.20

GR-18 2.50

Asamolgu 2.90

Asakira 2.50

LSD (5%) 0.67

CV% 25.00

Note: Numbers of farmers for the trials in 1998 and 1999 are 15 and 18 respectively.

levels recorded during the trials tallied very well with those given by the women
farmers during the initial interactions, confirming that farmers know the charac-
teristics of indigenous rice varieties very well.
From the 2001 observations, the good performance of the popular indigenous
rice varieties was confirmed. Yields of the indigenous rice varieties were compar-
able to that of the improved variety, GR-18, and ranged between one and
five tonnes/ha (Table 9.4).
In fact, four indigenous rice varieties (Peter, asamolgu , santie and agonsanga )
yielded higher than the improved variety.