Afram Plains Farmers Quadruple Food Production … Thanks To Modern Irrigation Technology

Barring any unforseen developments, the Afram Plains will soon give full meaning to its accolade of Ghana's major food basket.

A tour of the two farming districts of Kwahu Afram Plains North and Kwahu Afrarm Plains South depicted that farmers there are now able to cultivate four times bigger acreages than they did previously, and their output per acre has more than quadrupled, thanks to such simple-but-effective technologies as irrigation pumps, improved seeds and animal breeds.

The Afram Plains District Agriculture Development Project (APDADP) is the brain behind the mechanisation of agriculture and the wonders it is doing in the Afram Plains.

On a tour of the plains, The Chronicle met the APDADP distributing 47 sets of irrigation-pumps to reps of farmer-based organisations that had been schooled in the efficient use of the gadgets. The paper learnt that the total number of farmer groups that had benefitted was 72, with each irrigation-pump capable of watering a radius of 40 acres per season.

Each farmer-based organisation contains an average of 30 men and women, and each farmer is able to tend about 10 acres of land with just one hand sprinkler. With about 2,200 farmers having been empowered this way, the quantum leap in their production is quite phenomenal.

Richard Yankey, an irrigation specialist attached to the APDADP, said each irrigation-pump was capable of watering a radius of 40 acres per season. According to him, during the dry seasons, the Afram Plains drought virtually burns everything in its path, rendering farmers that depend on the rains or such Afram River tributaries as the Obosom, jobless for a whole half year.

He recalled that prior to the commencement of the project, studies had strongly suggested the need to support vegetable production in the Afram Plains that had near-perfect soils for the produce.

'Farmers are now more engaged during the off-season, when prices are quite competitive, and they themselves have reported marked improvements in their incomes,' Mr. Yankey reflects, adding, 'Our joy, particularly, is the fact that nearly as many women as men have been financially empowered this way.'

He said that in line with that vision, they supplied the farmers with 25 hand-pumps, and that based on its contribution to vegetable production, the local farmers demanded additional pumps.

Vegetables the farmers grow include pepper, garden eggs, okra, onions, cowpeas, and potatoes. The farmers have access to other improved implements to do food crop farming, and improved stocks of sheep and goats that give them bigger and faster yielding products.

The acclaimed Afram Plains District Agriculture Development Project is under the auspices of the Government of Ghana, and is funded by the African Development Bank.

Irrigation specialist Richard Yankey notes that the bank agreed to assist with the necessary funding, based on the testimonies from farmers that some irrigation-pumps had enabled them cultivate vegetables all-year-round.

He hoped the programme would be expanded to the nooks and crannies of the two vast Afram Plains districts, so tens of thousands would participate for the overall benefit of Ghana's agriculture and economy.

Even if one were to discount the sales of the vegetables, Mr. Yankey reckons, the nutritional values of the products to the children, women and entire families are invaluable. 'Rich and healthy vegetable consumption means healthy families and strong future leaders growing from here.'

Hajia Abiba Yussif, a gender specialist on the project, reminded the farmers that the intervention was aimed at reducing poverty in the area, stressing the need to maintain the farm machinery properly for longevity.

'It is our hope that these irrigation-pumps will go a long way to assist farmers, particularly women, keep their homes by way of supporting their husbands with incomes,' she added.

In another development peasant farmers at Caterpillar Tornu village in the Mem-Chemfre operational area of the Kwawu Afram Plains North District have turned their farmlands into schools, not to necessarily learn how to read and write, but to take lessons on new methods of farming.

Their curriculum is simply structured to equip them with the skills of farming sites selection, seed nursery management, planting improved seeds,  pipe-laying for irrigation, harvesting, marketing and basic agricultural economics.

That is just a small part of the story of the agricultural revolution underway in the food basket of the Afram Plains. All are under a scheme called the Afram Plains District Agriculture Development Project.

The APDADP, which is barely four years old, is headed by a coordinator in the person of Kofi Amoako Tweneboah, who is also the District Director of Agriculture.

It is segmented into seven divisions, the leaders of which form the Project Management Committee: the Livestock Division is headed by Joseph Yaw Asante; Extension Services are provided under the leadership of Nathan Aboagye Boakye, while the Gender Relations Department is headed by Hajia Abiba Yusif.

With Seth Martey handling the Crops Department; Dr. J.B. Darko, Veterinary Services Department; Richard Yankey, the section that oversees irrigation and Mr. Foley, head of the Fisheries Department, well-trained personnel are at the helm of affairs on the project.

Speaking in the overview of the Farmer Field School at Caterpillar Tornu, Richard Yankey, APDADP's Irrigation Department head, noted that the project had changed the face of agriculture at the Afram Plains in the relatively short period it had been in existence.

He explained that the school seeks to educate local farmers on pepper production, where they are taught site selection, nursery management, pipe-laying, planting and harvesting.

'Farmers in this community are predominantly vegetable growers trying to take advantage of the relative nearness of the Volta Lake, but who can't, without help, explore bigger and richer lands for lack of new farming technologies.'

Mr. Yankey explained that because of the traditional practices of farming and over-reliance on rain-fed agriculture, the farmers used to lean on fishing and rearing of animals when the dry season set in. Today, they do fishing by choice, or concentrate on vegetable farming.

Monies accruing from the Farmer Field School experimental farm sales go into procuring farming inputs to support either the school, or help participants set up their own farms.

Touching on the need for the extension of the project, he appealed to the donors to extend the project which is expected to end soon.

At Caterpillar Tornu, under Mem-Chemfre, the project is being undertaken by a farmer-based organisation, a cooperative of 27 members, and their main crops are Legon 18 or Long Finger and Green Pepper.

They are essentially into experiments – planting the peppers on ridges and flat land, and also planting at 70cmX70cm intervals on ridges; 70cmX70cm intervals on flat land. Other parts of the experiment include 80cmX80cm on ridges; same on flat land; 60cmX60cm on ridges; same on flat land.

A beneficiary of the project, Kwesi Botchwey, responding to a query on how other members of the community get to benefit from this laudable project, pointed out that those who were not part of the community were being entreated to form cooperatives 'so that they can equally benefit from the project.'

He reiterated the need for the extension of the project, adding that it was necessary for the farmer field school to be extended to all parts of the district, to enable farmers without little or no formal education.