The Farm – Promoting Urban Organic Waste for Food and Livelihood Security (FaPUOWaFLiS) project is being implemented in ten communities in the northern region of Ghana.
Some 101 direct and indirect farms in communities are all engaged mostly in vegetable cultivation with the support of WUZDA Ghana’s drip irrigation technology, which enables the farmers to grow crops in both the rainy and dry seasons.
Following the 2022 crop season, field officers visited Tonjin, Libiga and Zaazei to monitor the harvesting of vegetables on the farms and to document some of the challenges the farmers faced during their work on the farms during the season, to allow for discussions to begin on surmounting them.
Upon the visit, the team realized an innovation at the Libiga farm, where the farmers planted maize alongside the vegetables, to take advantage of the rains this year. The officers found the maize to be in good condition.
At Tonjin, there were a total of 1,224 potatoes planted on 408 ridges, which means the potatoes have enough spacing to be able to breathe and absorb the right amount of water needed for their growth. The crops were at growth stage and stretching their vines all over in the field.
In Zaazei, the field is being used for the cultivation of beans, which is also being harvested. At the time of the team’s visit, 20 bowls of the grains had been harvested and sold Gh¢500.00, as a bowl of the beans cost Gh¢25.00.
The harvesting of the crops is still ongoing on all the FaPUOWaFLiS farms, as the field officers continue their monitoring visits.
One of the key challenges found in the communities by the officers is the farmers’ lack of knowledge about the use of the drip irrigation, which made it unfortunately incumbent for them to be uninstalled.
The other challenge found was the lack of drainage around the farms, which made it easy for flooding to occur, from which some of the crops were taken over by flood waters due to the heavy rains.
The Farm – Promoting Urban Organic Waste for Food and Livelihood Security (FaPUOWaFLiS) project is being funded by Bread for the World.
WUZDA Ghana 