Farmer Group Visits

Hello everyone,
Sorry for the delay for getting this blog post out to you. These past two week have been pretty crazy for me, as I first got diagnosed with malaria and was treated for that for a week, only for my condition to get worse with it turning out I in fact had typhoid, not malaria. This led to me ending up in the hospital for 48 hours. After treatment which I am still continuing, I am starting to feel like myself again and have headed away from Saboba for our midplacement retreat back in Tamale and Kumasi.
Below are some photos and stories of some new farmer groups formed by the Ministry District Agricultural Officers of Saboba. These groups have been brought together to deliver the 10 workshops of the Agriculture of a Business Program.

Group 1: M-Moadani Farmers Group, Yankazia village community, Wapuli, Saboba District. District Agricultural Officer: Mr. P.M. Grundow.

 The M-Moadani group participated in the third workshop of the Agriculture As A Business program, the "Group Finances" card. In this workshop members learned the importance of pooling together finances in order to get access to loans. This is as if they pool their money together, they then have more bargaining and purchasing power, to allow them to open a bank account, to purchase certain inputs they could not afford as individuals and to allow themselves to potentially be able to access certain programs and loans that may be available to them as individuals. This mechanism of shared pool financial resources can also act as a safety net for members of the group in times of unforseen problems that may arise, such as flooding or droughts. By demonstrating regular contributions, in which each member of the group contributes monthly dues, the group is then able to build credit and demonstrate their continued strenghth and responsibility to then be able to get larger bank loans for future group projects. This financial responsibility may then lead to individual members being able to open personal bank accounts and gain access to personal loans to expand their businesses. A 100% mandatory democracy, combined with shared duties and responsibilities, allows members to hold each other accountable, to ensure transparency, to allow effective recording and allow tracking of group goals and successes. Effective record keeping allows farmers within the group to begin to learn how to plan their group farm projects, as by assessing inputs and outputs, expenses and profits from one growing season to the next, groups can develop effective financial plans in order to maximize profit expectations for the next year/project.
This same workshop was then presented and discussed by a second farmer group in the area on the same day, they Ti Goup M-Puan Farmers Group, which translated to english means "to hold firmly together".

Another day trip out to the field, allowed me to visit they Timuun Farmers group of Dicheeni, in the Saboba District. This group was presented the first workshop of the Agriculture As A Business program. Mr. E.A. Syme is the District Agricultural officer who presented this workshop to the group. In this workshop, members discussed and shared the potential benefits of being united in a strong farmers group. This could create a social security safety net, allow for pooling of resources and for them to join in a group project. This group hopes to contribute regularly to a shared group bank account to one day be able to purchase a tractor. By buying a tractor, the group then hopes to be able to do a large scale block farm. A block farm is a farm of a mono-cropped single cash-crop, either maize, rice or soybean, done on a large tract of continuous ploughed land. This group is looking forward to the security of joint projects, as this past year through a government block farm project, they have seen 30+ acres of a rice crop be destroyed by flooding. I was able to get out in a canoe for a couple hours to tour the rice field where the rice is planted and currently submerged.

Canoe trip to flooded rice field in Dicheeni

Timuun Farmers Group, Dicheeni, Saboba District.