How the Vision of CSIR-SARI’s Director is Powering Year-Round Innovation at the Agricultural Technology Park
The CSIR-Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (CSIR-SARI), under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Ghana, continues to stand tall as a beacon of innovation and agricultural transformation in the West African sub-region. At the heart of this transformation is the Agricultural Technology Park (ATP) located at the Nyankpala campus—an experimental and demonstration hub for cutting-edge, climate-smart agricultural technologies tailored to the needs of smallholder farmers.
Since its establishment, the ATP has showcased a wide array of improved crop varieties, integrated soil fertility management practices, irrigation innovations, mechanization solutions, and other scalable technologies that have the potential to revolutionize agriculture across Ghana and beyond. However, as the dry season approaches each year, the same question has repeatedly threatened the continuity of this progress: How do we sustain this park throughout the year?
The original plan to provide water for irrigation through boreholes at the ATP site quickly proved unfeasible due to the extremely high water table in the area. Attempts to drill boreholes failed, leading to technical setbacks and stalling plans to keep the park green and productive during the long, dry months.
This presented not only a technical hurdle but a significant strategic risk. Without a reliable source of irrigation, the park could only operate seasonally—curtailing its value as a year-round learning and demonstration center. For an institution like CSIR-SARI, whose mandate is to deliver technologies that support agricultural resilience, this was unacceptable.
It was at this critical juncture that the decisive leadership of Dr. Francis Kusi, Director of CSIR-SARI and Coordinator of the ATP, proved instrumental. With deep understanding of the operational needs of the park and an unshakable commitment to the Institute’s broader vision, Dr. Kusi spearheaded a search for a more sustainable and cost-effective solution.
He looked beyond the immediate problem and into the institute’s existing resources. Roughly 1,200 meters away from the park sits the CSIR-SARI domestic dam—a facility originally designed to support the station’s non-agricultural water needs. Dr. Kusi asked a bold question: Could this dam serve both domestic and irrigation purposes—and in doing so, solve one of the ATP’s biggest problems?
With the support of his team and irrigation experts at the institute, Dr. Kusi oversaw the reengineering and redesign of the dam’s water storage system. Under his direction, the dam was upgraded to hold sufficient water to meet both its original purpose and the irrigation needs of the ATP.
But Dr. Kusi didn’t stop at theory. He moved swiftly into action. Plans were drawn up to install a comprehensive drip irrigation system that would connect the dam to the ATP. Procurement of the necessary irrigation equipment—including thousands of meters of piping and water control systems—is currently underway.
Once installed, this system will ensure that the technologies displayed at the park are not at the mercy of seasonal rains. Farmers, students, policymakers, and development partners who visit the park will be able to see these innovations in action throughout the year—greatly enhancing the park’s value as a hub for capacity building, technology adoption, and south-south learning.
Beyond solving a local challenge, Dr. Kusi’s intervention has sparked broader discussions on how CSIR-SARI can better leverage its assets and internal ingenuity to achieve strategic goals. The irrigation solution has become a case study in institutional innovation—highlighting how leadership that is both visionary and pragmatic can mobilize internal resources to overcome obstacles that would otherwise require expensive external interventions.
As the pipes are laid and the irrigation system comes to life, the Agricultural Technology Park is poised to enter a new phase of its development—one characterized by 365-day operability, improved knowledge dissemination, and higher impact. None of this would have been possible without the deliberate, forward-looking leadership of Dr. Francis Kusi.
In a region where rainfall is increasingly unpredictable and where farmers’ livelihoods hang in the balance, this bold and strategic solution has not only solved a logistical problem—it has safeguarded the future of innovation for thousands of farmers across Northern Ghana.
This is what leadership looks like. This is what agricultural transformation requires. And this is what CSIR-SARI, under the guidance of Dr. Francis Kusi, is delivering—one bold decision at a time.