A new generation of agricultural innovators has emerged (NGO News Africa)

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http://www.ngonewsafrica.org/?p=5145

Ghana: Agricultural Innovation in Ghana

The Worldwatch Institute, an environmental research organization based in Washington D.C., recently toured Ghana in search of innovations as part of a two year evaluation of sustainable agriculture across sub-Saharan Africa. While conducting research for the project, Worldwatch’s Nourishing the Planet team found that a new generation of agricultural innovators has emerged from farmers’ groups, private voluntary organizations, NGOs and universities.

While these organizations span a large variety of industries and disciplines, they all share the common goal of equipping Ghanaian farmers with the tools to alleviate hunger and poverty. Nourishing the Planet researchers met with a variety of organizations that are working to revive sustainable development in Ghana, such as the Ecumenical Association for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (ECASARD), based in Accra. Since its establishment in 1991, ECASARD has connected with over 32,000 farmers in 7 regions of southern and central Ghana in order to help them organize into business associations and cooperatives. By working with individual villages and especially encouraging women and youth to get involved, ECASARD “works with the root” and builds upwards. ECASARD’s dedication to small farmers, for example, is seen in the Abooman Women’s Group, who received funding to form a cooperative of women interested in learning how to raise and care for dairy cows.

Danielle Nierenberg, a senior researcher with the Worldwatch Institute and co-director of Nourishing the Planet, traveled across Ghana to learn firsthand from the leaders of these organizations and the communities that have benefitted from the innovations. Nierenberg reported that, “Throughout Ghana and everywhere I’ve traveled in Africa, I’ve seen examples of Africa-led innovations working in sustainable ways to alleviate hunger and poverty.” In Anamaase, Nierenberg met with the New Frontier Farmers and Processor Group led by Osbararima Mana Tibi II, the village chief. Chief Mana Tibi told Nierenberg that he had wanted “to help revive farmland and improve the lives of the farmers” in his village, so he began thinking of ways to help farmers become more business-oriented. According to Chief Mana Tibi, one of the Group’s biggest accomplishments has been organizing palm oil processing groups within the village. Rather than collecting palm oil fruits and selling them to a processor, farmers can now boil, ferment, and press the fruits themselves, allowing them to make a better profit. In Cape Coast, Nierenberg also learned from fishermen and women who have long struggled with the fluctuations of the fish supply. While there is frequently too much seafood available on the market to make a profit during the summer months, later in the year there isn’t enough to sell in the community or even to feed their families.

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