Vegetable farmers schooled in organic farming practices

Abesim and Yawhima are two key major vegetable producing areas in the Sunyani Municipality, which supply raw vegetables to the municipality.

In the last few years, the use of agro-chemicals, especially pesticides, has increased in these areas. Pesticide use has assumed and increasingly significant role in the production of vegetables, and prevention of vector-borne disease.

The most challenging issue is that some of the farmers do not know that some chemicals contain Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) substances, and thereby use them anyhow, to the extent of sometimes tasting the chemicals to test the potency of the mixture.

The continuous application of agro-chemicals is having negative effects on the vegetation and human beings. The incessant use of, especially herbicides, reduces biodiversity by causing the death of micro-organisms and the loss of plant and animal life, whilst the health and lives of the vegetable farmers are also at risk.

Besides, after constant use of inorganic fertiliser, the yields reduce whenever there is a reduction in the quantity normally used or not used at all.

This being a major concern of the Environmental Protection Agency of Ghana (EPA), with funding from the Global Environmental Fund of the UNDP, has embarked on a series of sensitisation workshops to educate vegetable farmers in these areas on the importance of organic farming, and the dangers and effects of agrochemicals on the health of farmers, crops and consumers, and the use of alternative measures of pest management.

The main objective of the project is to raise public awareness on persistent organic pollutants, and promote integrated pest management techniques in vegetable production, in order to minimize the use of persistent organic chemicals, and safeguard the health of vegetable consumers.

In all 10 farmer groups, made up of over 90 individual vegetable farmers drawn from Yawhiman, Tanoso, and Abesim, were taken through the organic way of pest control, by Nana Kwaw Adams of the Environmental Protection Agency of Ghana at Abesim.

According to Nana Kwaw Adam, farmers should consider using the use organic system of farming, however since it would not be easy to completely do away with agrochemicals, they must read and follow instructions printed on the packages carefully before using them.

The farmers were later taken through an exhibition and practical applications on some of the organic ways of pest control.