The 2011 ASHS Annual Conference

A ten year project (2001 – 2011) was conducted in four villages in the Upper West Region of Ghana to increase vegetable production and consumption during the long dry season. Training programs on irrigated dry season vegetable production were developed by the Ghana Institute of Horticulturists research team and were delivered through Train the Trainer courses and Farmer Field Schools, with the cooperation of the Ghana Ministry of Food and Agriculture. The second phase (2006 to 2011) was evaluated. In 2006, 65% of the farmers had not heard about dry season vegetable production, indicating that the project was primarily responsible for delivering this information. The number of farmers growing vegetables increased from 761 to 811 from 2006 to 2010; 369 farmers received direct training, including 165 women.  Approximately 55 % of the farmers had no formal education. An interview survey of 77 males and 73 females was conducted in Fall 2010, to determine the uptake, benefits, and challenges of the beneficial management practices (BMP’s) that were introduced. The production practices that were most widely adopted were fertilization, composing, pricking out of seedlings, mulching, pest and disease control (including neem) and bucket drip irrigation.  Over 86% indicated that they have been using these practices for over a year and will continue to use them. Responses were similar for both women and men. The practices that were least likely to be continued (<55%) were simple record keeping, seed treatment, green manure cropping and a value chain approach.  In a test to determine their understanding of the practices, 74% gave the correct answers to the 20 questions. However, less than 50% indicated that they could read and understand a pesticide label. When questioned about the challenges of implementing the BMP’s, 28% indicated no problems or did not respond.  The highest portion, 45, mentioned the increased skills and effort required, especially that the tasks were tedious and time consuming. This was equal between males and females. All the respondents indicated that they have observed improvements in the fields in 2010, as compared to before the project. About 29% reported better crop growth, 20% observed fewer pests, diseases and weeds, 17% saw higher yields, and 16% mentioned improved soil fertility.  Thus, the farmers recognized that these methods require more time, effort and skill but will continue to use many of the BMP’s because of the improvements in   yield and quality of the crops.