Damongo (N/R), June 10, GNA - The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) has introduced a new method of grafting cashew plants with new varieties to improve upon yields. The new method, known as "Canopy substitution," involves cutting the old matured tree at its apex and slanting the cut portion at both sides after which the new improved variety is grafted on the old tree.

\The grafted plant is then left to grow over a period of three years after which it is capable of yielding bigger and high quality cashew nuts. This was made known when Dr Nii Okai Hammond, a Deputy Minister of Agriculture, visited the cashew farm of Mr Phelimon Vuol at Damongo on Thursday. He is on a four-day visit to the Northern Region.

Mr Vuol said but for the encouragement given to him by the staff of MOFA he would have abandoned cashew farming because of the high cost of production involved as compared to the low returns he gets from his investment. Mr Vuol is a mixed farmer who cultivates cassava and maize and is also engaged in the rearing of livestock such as cattle, goats, sheep, poultry and bee- keeping. In a related development, an unidentified strange insect that attacks the stem of cashew plants and gradually destroys them has been reported in the West Gonja District.