Farming during the dry season

On Monday I started work in the Aggraproject led by Stanislaus Nasaal. This project is currently focussing on farming during the dry period. Northern Ghana lies close to one of the desert regions of Africa. In November there are strong, dry winds coming from the north. I find this quite pleasant as the heat is actually rising but at least sweating is cooled down due to the increased chill  factor resulting from the wind. On the other hand this causes the plants in the fields to wither and dry up. Especially after havesting the farmers encounter problems due to the dry air and the lack of water during the sowing season. This is, by the way, the time for bush-burning. The people set fire to the areas covered by dry plants. This is a long-standing tradition. The Government runs campaigns to stop this.

The project, "Gardens" was established some years ago to improve the agriculture. This project works independently, which means that the farmers see the profit in it for themselves and that they can make money even during the dry season.

Firstly the farmers create vegetable plots as the picture on the right shows. These are placed close to rivers or other areas within easy reach of water sources. This plot was set up close to a lake. In addition to this, wells are drilled because more and more farmers have joined the project and the land close by the lake is limited. In these plots you can see two to three weeks old seedlings which were sown by the farmers. These are protected with dried plant material which prevents water loss due to the wind. The plants need water every day. As you can see, this requires much more work than during the rainy season, when the farmers simply sow their crops in the fields and wait for  havesting. During this period they mostly spend their time protecting their land against big animls.

During the dry season plants need special protection against animals which continually search for food. The picture on the left shows how the farmers build walls. The earth is loamy so they are easily able to construct walls which are then dried by the sun. This is why you see the ditch in front of the wall.

This season there were some difficulties due to a disease, previously unknown here, killing the plants. Stanislaus took some plants and drove 100 kilometres to Wa, where there is a laboratory. Otherwise he would not have undertaken the difficult journey over such very bad roads.

The thirty-four famers and their wives needed a little more than seven hours to set up the whole vegetable plot. An area, half the size of a football pitch, now offers a very good food supply during the dry season.  After all the work they certainly deserve some Pito (local beer) and the day comes to an end sitting under the banana trees  with  the tomato plants near by.