World Connect in partnership with Afienya Women in farming Association has organized a 5-day training of trainers’ workshop for female farmers in Afienya in the Ningo-Prampram District.
The training workshop which was themed ‘Ensuring Sustainable Agriculture Through Best Farm Practices’ which commenced on Tuesday, 26th April will end Saturday, 30th April, 2022.
Over 65 women are being trained on Fertilizer components and its benefit to crop at each stage of a crop lifespan, fertilizer application and micro-dosing, chemical application with special emphasis on PHI (Pre-Harvest Intervals) and business development.
According to the World Connect Established Field Partner for the Project; Ms. Priscilla Adom Tawiah the training offered the female farmers of Afienya and its environs hands on practical knowledge on microdosing, chemical application with focus on PHI and business development sessions that emphasized the need for the trainees to formalize their businesses, adopt value addition and marketing strategies in order to grow their companies.
She added that most of the female farmers who are largely uneducated had little or no idea the importance of the major fertilizer components to plant life especially NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium).
All they knew was the old method of fertilizer application which is manual, costly, inefficient and had a lot of adverse health implications on the life of the farmers. She further stressed that a lot of the reasons why most of the vegetable on our markets have shorter shelf lives was as a result of higher nitrogen concentration due to the lack of knowledge of our farmers in fertilizer application. In an era where fertilizer has become a scared commodity, it was important for the farmers to adopt more efficient and effective methods like micro-dosing to guarantee good and quality harvest.
In the words of the District Chief Executive of Ningo-Prampram; Hon. AL Lattif Tetteh Amanor and the Acting District Director of Food and Agriculture in the District; Mr. Prince Orleans Ofori-Boateng who graced the occasion during the closing ceremony, ‘This is the first time a project of this nature is being held in the Ningo-Prampram District for farmers.
Throughout the training, trainees were taken through interactive practical and theoretical sessions. The male farmers in Afienya who graced the occasion during the launch of the project decided to sit in the training and benefit of the knowledge as well.
Each trainee of the World Connect ‘Ensuring Sustainable Agriculture Through Best Farm Practices’ received a certificate and fertilizer applicator/micro-dosing equipment. The equipment is to help them implement what they have learnt and have higher returns on their investment in the upcoming planting seasons.
The Afienya female farmers are amongst the many small scale female farmers who feed our nations. A little support in the form of simple mechanized equipment and education can go a long way to help them produce quality products, increase harvest, improve their businesses and ultimately their standard of living.
This Project was funded by World Connect and executed in partnership with Afienya Women in Farming Association through its Established Field Partner; Ms. Priscilla Adom Tawiah and its Local Leader; Mrs. Fatima Ali. The project was further supported by the Mandela Washington Fellows Association of Ghana, PEL’S Farm Group, Ghana’s Ministry of Food and Agriculture in the Ningo-Prampram District and the Ningo-Prampram District Assembly.
World Connect is a U.S.-based non-profit organization that partners with communities and grassroots organizations across the Global South to advance locally-led development. World Connect believes that development must be authentic to be effective, it must come from local ideas, action and leadership, and we believe that capacity exists in every community, in every country where we work. Since 2005, World Connect has supported 1,200+ grassroots projects in 30+ countries. Visit World Connect at www.worldconnect-us.org to learn more about the long-lasting and transformational impact of its programs.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/Priscilla Adom Tawiah
