Farming Project in Ghana

Farming Project

This farming project began life on one of Enliven Mama Africa’s frequent ‘evaluation’ trips. On these excursions, Maxwell (the founder of Enliven), engages with local populations to uncover areas that require improvement and funding. On this trip, he and the team engaged with a group of local farmers who grow tomatoes, squash, and cucumbers. Whilst these farmers dream of making enough money to help fund basic needs such as healthcare and education for themselves and their children, currently they are only just about able to grow enough to feed themselves and their immediate family with no surplus to sell.

Challenge

Due to climate change and the inaction of the West, Ghana is one of the sub-Saharan countries facing extreme weather patterns and severe drought. Economic and social challenges mean Ghana also faces increasing poverty levels in their villages and towns. Whilst these farmers already have boreholes on their land, they do not have the means to extract enough water from them to help increase their crop yields. Without this extra income, the farmers and their families do not have access to any of the basics we consider necessary parts of life, meaning the children are not equipped to escape the poverty spiral.

Solution

Liaising with Maxwell and listening to the needs of the farmers involved, Sumillion will be funding a water pumping machine to share between the 5 farmers involved in the project. They all live within the small town of Konkoli in the Ashanti region, so transportation will not be an issue. A supply of good quality, fresh seeds will also be provided to help the farmers involved kick-start this exciting new opportunity for the families involved.

 Long Term Impact

With fresh seeds and a means of pumping enough water to sustain the seedlings, the farmers involved will be able to grow more fresh produce to serve their local communities. As they will be able to make a profit from selling their surplus, their general standard of living will be increased as they will have access to essential services such as healthcare and education. The success of this project we hope will also prove to young farmers in their community that positive change is possible.