I am honored to welcome you to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) – Soil Research Institute (SRI), the leading public soil research institution in Ghana. Started in 1945 as a Research Unit of the then West African Cocoa Research Institute (WACRI), now Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG). In 1951, it became the Department of Soil and Land-use Survey of Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and moved to Aburi in 1953. It was relocated to Kumasi in 1962 and became the Soil Research Unit within the National Research Council, which later became the Ghana Academy of Sciences. In 1963, it was joined with the Crops Research Unit (CRU) to form the Agricultural Research Institute (ARI) within the Ghana Academy of Sciences. In 1964 however, the two units were separated and SRI emerged as a fully-fledged Research Institute under CSIR. CSIR-SRI has 13 Outstations that are strategically located across the ecological zones in Ghana. Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Soil Research Institute (CSIR-SRI) is one of the 13 institutes established in 1996 by Act 521 of parliament. The CSIR-Soil Research Institute (CSIR-SRI) is a public sector scientific research institution. The CSIR – SRI has the mandate to undertake scientific research to generate technologies (information), commercialize these technologies and build capacity in sustainable management of Ghana’s soil resources for increased agriculture, environmental quality and improved livelihood. The institute’s vision is to become a centre of excellence in research, development and innovation in tropical soil resources for sustainable agriculture and environmental quality.
In order to achieve this vision, the institute generate technologies (Fertilizer recommendations, SAWAH Technology) and build capacity for effective planning, development and management of soil resources of Ghana for increased and sustainable agriculture, environmental quality to improve livelihoods.
The establishment of CSIR-SRI as a regional centre of specialization will strengthen the capacity of agricultural systems regionally, promote regional networking of research centres, finally improve and modernize extension system on recent issues pertaining to soil and water management.
To achieve the above, SRI has expertise to develop knowledge for efficient soil resource management, create an enabling environment that promote capacity development, foster local, national and international partnerships, and finally to facilitate the implementation of strategies to support institutional competitiveness. The CSIR-SRI’s capacity as a centre of specialization will strengthen the institute’s delivery capacity in food crop production. This would result in the development and implementation of actions for efficient management of soil and water resources and the formulation of appropriate policies for soil and water management in Ghana and in the West African sub-region.
I invite you to our institute to patronise our specialised technologies.