CROPS SUB-SECTOR
Naturally the region is blessed to have soils and general environment suitable for crops such as:
Cereals: Sorghum, Millet, Maize and Rice
Legumes: Groundnuts, Cowpea, Soybean and Bambarra beans
Fibers: Kenaf, Cotton and Kapok
Roots & Tubers: Sweet Potato and Frafra Potato
Vegetables: Okro, Pepper and Leafy Vegetables
Non Traditional Export Crops: Sesame, Paprika, Cashew, Mangoes, Sheanuts.
Irrigated Crops: Tomato, Onion, Water/Sweet Melon, Rice, Okro, Pepper and Maize
Cropped Area during the Period 2000-2010
| Area Crop In Hectares(Ha) | |||||||||||
| Crops | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| Maize | 10,466.0 | 9,995.0 | 11,397.0 | 11,908.0 | 13,040.0 | 17,497.0 | 14,355.0 | 17,382.0 | 23,763.0 | 31,039 | 37,921 |
| Rice | 31,421.0 | 42,987.0 | 39,816.0 | 37,000.0 | 33,040.0 | 44,397.0 | 16,396.0 | 25,556.0 | 26,934.0 | 39,833 | 47,361 |
| Millet | 84,570.0 | 63,356.0 | 64,913.0 | 67,505.0 | 66,900.0 | 71,247.0 | 81,116.0 | 60,751.0 | 65,342.0 | 63,927 | 60,720 |
| Sorghum | 84,532.0 | 112,220.0 | 118,881.0 | 124,500.0 | 121,500.0 | 111,678.0 | 122,809.0 | 59,280.0 | 96,602.0 | 70,536 | 71,165 |
| G/Nuts | 109,426.0 | 135,710.0 | 123,842.0 | 124,500.0 | 122,805.0 | 111,860.0 | 173,792.0 | 98,476.0 | 73,150.0 | 80,066 | 81,450 |
| Cowpea | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 54,640.0 | 61,810.0 | 61,849.0 | 52,930.0 | 45,577.0 | 46,907.0 | 33,530 | 29,403 |
| S. Potato | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 6,283.0 | ── | 8,580.0 | 8,471.0 | 5,589.0 | 10,120.0 | 6,853 | 6,940 |
| S/ Beans | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 860.0 | ── | 14,783.0 | 1,411.0 | 8,169.0 | 13,517.0 | 20,320 | 21,510 |
Yield figures during the Period 2000 – 2010
| CROPS | Yield in Tons Per Hectare(T/Ha) | ||||||||||
| YEAR | |||||||||||
| 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |
| MAIZE | 1.56 | 1.50 | 1.61 | 1.20 | 1.29 | 1.21 | 1.02 | 0.50 | 1.59 | 1.51 | 1.55 |
| RICE | 2.14 | 2.00 | 2.10 | 2.05 | 1.55 | 1.58 | 3.20 | 1.61 | 3.16 | 2.81 | 2.81 |
| MILLET | 0.87 | 0.83 | 0.83 | 0.98 | 0.74 | 0.82 | 0.80 | 0.48 | 1.07 | 1.14 | 0.97 |
| SORGHUM | 1.11 | 1.20 | 1.16 | 0.53 | 0.93 | 1.12 | 1.15 | 0.56 | 1.27 | 1.24 | 1.14 |
| G/NUTS | 1.10 | 1.10 | 0.95 | 1.20 | 0.75 | 0.93 | 0.93 | 0.52 | 1.21 | 0.77 | 0.92 |
| COWPEA | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.46 | 0.44 | 0.45 | 0.81 | 0.51 | 1.05 | 0.88 | 0.80 |
| SWEETPOTATO | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.09 | ── | 11.04 | 11.05 | 4.26 | 11.81 | 10.65 | 9.30 |
| SOYABEANS | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.67 | ── | 0.48 | 0.87 | 0.60 | 0.96 | 0.91 | 0.98 |
Production figures from 2000 – 2010
| Production (Mt) | |||||||||||
| Crops | Years | ||||||||||
| 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |
| Maize | 16,327 | 15,000 | 18,390 | 14,300 | 16,822 | 21,216 | 14,712 | 8,581 | 37,783.2 | 51,143 | 62,257 |
| Rice | 65,381 | 85,974 | 36,600 | 76,000 | 51,322 | 69,976 | 52,417 | 39,924 | 85,111.4 | 111,273 | 135,222 |
| Millet | 70,399 | 52,583 | 56,502 | 66,200 | 49,506 | 58,581 | 65,264 | 30,155 | 69,915.9 | 79,629 | 64,091 |
| Sorghum | 97,849 | 129,056 | 132,282 | 144,000 | 112,388 | 124,760 | 141,214 | 28,946 | 122,684.5 | 97,495 | 86,614 |
| G/Nuts | 103,955 | 135,710 | 137,465 | 149,400 | 91,899 | 104,574 | 161,350 | 48,774 | 88,511.5 | 63,870 | 73,808 |
| Cowpea | – | – | – | 25,134 | 27,402 | 27,938 | 42,901 | 23,637 | 49,252.4 | 26,781 | 22,800 |
| S.Potato | – | – | – | 75,961 | – | 94,714 | 93,603 | 19,779 | 119,517.2 | 72,967 | 61,570 |
| Soya Beans | – | – | – | 570 | – | 7,103 | 1,230 | 5,278 | 12,976.3 | 20,177 | 22,044 |
Potential Areas of Production:
Rainfed
Rice Production: Valley bottoms at (Sumbrungu, Kalbeo, Nyariga) in Bolga Municipality, (Pwalugu, Winkogo, Pusu-Namoogo) in Talensi Nabdam, (Wiesi, Gbedembilisi, Fumbisi) in the Builsa District, Kologo -Naga, Tono) in the Kassena Nankana Districts, (Nafkolga, Sakpari, Tamde) in Bawku Municipality (Tamne in Garu Tempane and (Tillie, Widnaba & Lamboya) in the Bawku West District.
Soybean:
Investment into grain production, soya oil extraction and cake production for human and livestock export substitution.
Sesame:
The international market for Sesame is inexhaustible but marketing outlet and investment to promote the production.
Irrigated Crop Production
Maize: It is possible to undertake three cropping sessions per year using pumps between February and July.
Irrigated Rice: Rice production is undertake mostly at Tono and Vea dam-sites as well as use of pump irrigation irrigation at all dam sites. There are two main irrigation projects, the Vea Project in Bolgatanga covering 850 hectares and the Tono Project in Navrongo covering 2,490 hectares. Altogether they provide employment to about 6,000 small-scale farmers. Other water-retaining structures (dams and dugouts) provide water for both domestic and agricultural purposes.
Vegetables: Fresh/ Dried Onion, Chilly Pepper, Water and Sweet Melons for Local/ Export markets potential
Achievements in the Irrigation Subsector in the Region
Yearly Production Figures and Beneficiary by Crop of Dry Season 2nd Cropping Irrigation Scheme
| Year | Beneficiary | Tomato | Onion | Vegetable | Rice | ||||||
| M | F | Tot | Area(ha) | Prod-mt | Area(ha) | Prod-mt | Area(ha) | Prod-mt | Area(ha) | Prod-mt | |
| 2003/2004 | 879.00 | 10,636 | 63 | 625.00 | 10.40 | 20.80 | 1,091.0 | 4,910.00 | |||
| 2004/2005 | 628.00 | 6,594.0 | 50 | 420.00 | 18.60 | 29.76 | 900.00 | 3,660.00 | |||
| 2005/2006 | 655.89 | 7,805.0 | 207.9 | 1,892.00 | 15.40 | 12.32 | 896.50 | 3,407.00 | |||
| 2006/2007 | 1,085.00 | 12,478 | 211.6 | 2,010.00 | 25.60 | 35.84 | 623.00 | 2804.00 | |||
| 2007/2008 | 9024 | 2998 | 12,022 | 749.95 | 5,729.28 | 645.23 | 7,542.78 | 67.38 | 204.20 | 111.40 | 311.92 |
| 2008/2009 | 9366 | 3038 | 12,404 | 1,762.34 | 13,394 | 618.93 | 4,407 | 289.62 | 565.00 | 49.24 | 167.40 |