After meeting with the Ghana Permaculture Institute’s staff and discovering its various sites and activities, we dedicated the two following days of our mission to visiting farms. From the 20th to the 21th of March, we had the chance to meet with 10 different farmers and discuss their activity and the challenges they face. Most of the smallholders we exchanged with produced crops such as moringa, cashew, cocoa, plantain, cassava and sometimes vegetables, and were aware of sustainable agriculture methods thanks to GPI. Yet, before being engaged with the NGO, the majority of them used agrochemicals on their crops. For them it was the only way to enhance crop productivity and fight against pests.

 

However, gaining further knowledge on the health and environmental risks related to these inputs encouraged them to transition towards more sustainable production techniques. Our interventions allowed to reinforce their commitment to do so and enhanced their willingness to spread knowledge regarding the negative impacts of agrochemicals to other farmers. Moreover, for the few farmers we met who continued using such chemical inputs on their crops (mainly for the production of vegetables and cocoa), discussing with them permitted to strengthen their understanding of the long-term benefits of sustainable agriculture over unsustainable methods, inciting them to turn towards more natural methods.

 

During these visits, we also had the chance to meet with a leader of a farmers’ group as well as with a women working group reflecting the importance of spreading and sharing knowledge about sustainable agriculture to foster significant change among farmer communities. We were particularly impressed by the commitment of these smallholders to take action and to encourage others to do so as well.

 

These visits were thus particularly enriching and beneficial for our project. We got to meet different farmer profiles and obtain a better overview of the realities on field. Additionally, as mentioned, our interventions allowed to reinforce smallholders’ knowledge of sustainable agriculture and agrochemical risks, and encourage them to choose more sustainable alternatives.

 

Throughout these two days, we were accompanied by Ben, Mark, and Cosmos from GPI, who kindly drove us to the farms, took care of the translations when necessary (as some farmers we met didn’t speak English but the Twi dialect) and shared their insights with us. Their help was essential to the realization of these activities and to their successful outcomes.