The East-West Seed Knowledge Transfer Foundation is training smallholder farmers across five regions in vegetable production to improve their incomes and promote farming as a profitable business.
The four-year project, supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Accra, covers the Bono, Bono East, Ahafo, Ashanti and Upper East regions.
The Foundation’s Country Director, Jemima Djah, said the project is in its second year and provides practical training to help farmers establish and manage vegetable businesses.
She was speaking at the official opening of the EWS-KT learning farm at the University of Ghana in Accra on Tuesday, 20 October.
“So it’s a four-year project we are running with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Accra. They are funding us for four years to train farmers in five regions, Bono, Bono East, Ahafo, Ashanti and Upper East,” she told Myjoyonline.
Ms Djah said the Foundation had trained more than 30,000 farmers since beginning its training activities in 2023.
“And since 2023, when we started doing this thing, we have trained more than 30,000 farmers, and still counting.”
The training brings together groups of between 30 and 50 farmers on demonstration plots measuring 250 square metres. Field officers guide participants through two crop cycles, covering both the dry and rainy seasons.
“We believe that after two cycles, the farmers should be well equipped to be able to practice this on their own, scale it up on their own farm,” she explained.
The Foundation works with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture’s extension services and traditional leaders to identify communities and engage farmers willing to participate. The participating farmers provide land for the demonstration plots.
Ms Djah said the training goes beyond cultivation, helping farmers assess crop suitability, production costs, potential yields and market opportunities before committing their resources.
“People just get up, and they say that everybody’s growing tomato, and they all grow tomato, and it becomes plenty, and nobody’s buying,” she said.
Participants receive training in at least 10 modules, covering crop selection, business planning, land preparation, seedling production, transplanting, mulching and pest management.
The programme also introduces water conservation techniques and methods of controlling pests before resorting to pesticides. These include traps and mulching, which can help reduce expenditure on water, weeding and labour.
In the Ashanti Region, the Foundation is encouraging cocoa farmers to consider vegetable production as an additional source of income outside their cocoa harvesting periods.
“And so we thought, why not teach them vegetable production as an alternative source of livelihood,” Ms Djah said.
She also highlighted the programme’s emphasis on involving women and young people, with the aim of demonstrating the income-generating potential of agriculture.
“Farming is a profitable business. That’s what our project is trying to establish,” she said.
The newly opened learning farm at the University of Ghana will provide a demonstration site for partners in Accra and offer students opportunities for internships and practical agricultural training.
The Foundation also plans to establish a learning farm in the Upper East Region to serve farmers and communities there.