The Ghana outreach touched a cross-section of government, farmer organizations, NGOs and commercial endeavors. Indeed our team was just as busy as the notorious Accra traffic, splitting up to cover the diverse group of organizations engaged here. Our mini-workshop, hosted at the SNV compound, had the highest attendance and best female representation as well. As with the other workshops, we began with an overview of the AGCommons program (this time provided by our Steering Committee representative Dr. Jide Kufoniyi) and geospatial technology for agriculture and concluded with a summary of what the AGCommons team has heard in Mali and Burkina Faso.
The group was very forthcoming with their comments and spoke of both local knowledge and strategic considerations. Some of the questions and comments we received:
“Transport systems infrastructure is needed to enable effective operation of markets and value chains. ”
“You will find issues with cellular phone charging and not being able to receive messages in real time. People can walk several kilometers to charge their cell phone battery.”
“To what extent is the program going to include indigenous knowledge?”
“In a room like this, it is very easy to share ideas and agree to with one another. It is important that the communication network continues. That network should be alive.”
Similar to our Mali and Burkina workshops, we asked the participants to come up with 1-2 specific projects that could be implemented as part of AGCommons. The project concepts coming out of the Ghana mini-workshop were very detailed and farmer centric:
Project Concept: Enhancing Agriculture Production on selected irrigated farms using geospatial technology.
Pilot the project on one large irrigated farm (involving 100s of farmers) in the north of Ghana
Provide farmers the following location-specific information –
• Quantity of water supply available for farmer’s fields
• Rainfall forecasts and when to irrigate
• Sources of seeds and other inputs
• Sources of credit
• Type of crop/seed variety available
• Soil fertility status
• Fertilizer Requirements, etc..
• Market sources
• When agrochemicals can and should be applied
• When crops can be planted/harvested
Provide farm managers the following location-specific information –
• Plot sizes
• When water is received and where irrigation water is applied
• Crops grown
• Pest/disease problems
• Drainage problems
• Yield, etc..
• Environmental impacts (floods, salinity, etc..)
An excellent candidate would be the Bontanga Project near Tamale which would involve approximately 300 Farmers
Project Concept: Promotion of e-agric (electronic agriculture)
Focus on crops that grow in all of Ghana’s eco zones: Maize, Cassava, Rice
Information to provide to actors across the value chains:
• Suitability maps (soil, water, etc..)
• Markets – accessibility to them
• Crop performance information
• Current farm sites
• Yields
• Storage
• Processing facilities
• Road accessibility
• Weather data
Helping Women Farmers:
Priority information types and infrastructure to assist women –
• Soil suitability information
• Storage and processing facilities
• Marketing (outlet/programmes)
o Awareness/Outreach
• Internet Centers at district level
• Mobile phones and chargers/batteries
• Community information boards
• Mobility – bicycles/motor cycles
Project Concept: Rehabilitation of Cocoa Farms
Visualize the Cocoa Sector in the Eastern Region of Ghana
• Collect:
o Spatial location of farms
o Area under cultivation
o No of trees per farm
o Soil information
o Age class of trees
o Location of marketing centers (depots)
o Spatial location of social amenities (bore holes, health centers, schools, roads, radio stations, etc..) – use geospatial analysis for siting new radio stations
• Establish Methods of Communication (most cocoa farmers are “off the grid”)
o Extension services – use spatial analysis to determine how to best re-deploy and reinvigorate extension resources.
o Use of radio (FM) station
o Use of farmer field schools
o Video viewing centers – farmers take video of their techniques and share them with their friends.
Project Concept: Assistance to Women Fishers
1. Market information
a. Where to sell/buy
b. Price in various markets (major)
c. Market demand
(Information communicated through associations, sms text messaging, representatives)
2. Location of storage facilities
a. Distance to nearest facility
b. Charges
c. Conditions
(Information to be communicated through associations)
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