WUZDA Ghana, arguably northern Ghana’s leading NGO in agriculture and livelihood initiatives, has yet again brought together farmers to show them practically, how to prepare organic compost using waste materials from the household level to industry.
The training brought together male and female vegetable farmers from communities in Tamale including Duunying, Nyoglo, Libiga, Manguli, Yong and Wovogu, where WUZDA Ghana has its ‘Bread for The World’ pilot project running.
Because of the huge numbers of vegetable farmers WUZDA Ghana deals with in these communities, it was agreed for them to send their representatives for the training, who will in turn train the entire farmers when they get back.
This recent activity is under the Farm Promoting Urban Waste for Livelihood and Food Security Project, funded by Bread for the World in Germany.
The project looks mainly at empowering farmers in rural areas on how to utilise the waste generated from the household to enrich their farming, especially vegetables.
Research has shown that many household wastes contain rich substances and nutrients that can help crops grow better and make them safer to consume, than the use of inorganic manure (fertiliser), by many farmers.
For about the sixth time, WUZDA Ghana had a plan that before the farming season begins, farmers need to know the simple ways to produce their crops using the cheapest, yet the most durable means possible to grow their crops.
This is why in collaboration with DECO, a compost preparation Nongovernmental O1rganization based in tamale, northern Ghana, WUZDA organized this all important training.
Program officer for WUZDA Ghana, Ibrahim Abubakar speaks of the importance of the training to the organization.
According to him, it has become necessary to engage the farmers and to show them how they can affordably grow their crops, in a way that also ensures it is more healthy for consumption, as a means of contributing to poverty alleviation in WUZDA Ghana’s operational communities; which is also the larger goal of ‘Bread for The World’ the funding organization for this project.
“As part of our project, we tell the farmers that it is important to use organic fertiliser and because of that, we have to provide them with the needed training to be able to prepare this compost by themselves”, according to Ibrahim Abubakar.
The Training
Executive Director at deco, Ibrahim Amadu said farmers can use many waste materials, both liquid and solid from household activities to enrich the soil which also ensures the food we eat is healthy and increases yield over time, much more than with the use of inorganic fertiliser which is also more expensive and impossible for rural farmers to afford.
In this training, DECO uses various waste substances such as groundnut shells, rice husks, excreta from goats and sheep, waste from shea butter processing and ash to demonstrate to farmers how they can prepare one of the most effective types of organic compost that can strengthen the soil on their farms for a longer period than inorganic fertiliser would.
Ibrahim Amadu explains that not every waste material form the household level can be used to produce compost since some of them have longer life spans of decay.
He advised the trainees (farmers) to use materials that decompose in short periods because according to him, those materials like the ones he used for the demonstration have proven to be effective and more nutritious.
Check out more images of the materials in next uploads.
WUZDA Ghana 