Together with our partner organization Farming Development Organization and 400 farmers, we are starting the next phase of the Chereponi Farming Project. The project implements sustainability where it is needed – at the top of the field.

We will improve the quality of the soil and strengthen its natural regenerative power. We will enable increased yields and income for farm families. And we will build a cooperative to ensure long-term change on the ground.

Following the successful completion of the pilot project in 2020, the expansion phase of the Chereponi Farming Project will start on March 1, 2021. By the end of 2022, a total of 400 farmers in north-eastern Ghana will be trained and supported in the implementation of resource-conserving and high-yield agriculture. They will be farming a total area of 240 hectares.

©Sabab Lou

Improving soil quality

The primary goal of all measures is to improve soil quality. The severely degraded soils currently do not provide a basis for successful and sustainable agriculture. Therefore, intensive and regenerative soil cultivation will be necessary in the next two years. We are using lime to neutralize the ph-value of the soil and a fertilization concept provides for the gradual abandonment of artificial fertilization. In addition, crop residues are incorporated into the soil to improve nutrient retention and soil structure.

Generating income

In the project, man and woman of each family will grow corn, soybean and millet in alternating crop rotation. While corn and millet are traditionally used to feed the family, soy is sold and thus serves as a profitable source of income. The measures learned in the project will enable the farming families to increase yields by up to 60% by the end of 2022. This will make a fundamental contribution to improving the income and food security of the rural population.

Creating structures

In order to provide participants with access to equipment and knowledge even after the end of the project, a cooperative will be established during the course of the project, which will gradually take over overall responsibility. This means that the end of the project is already taken into consideration at the start. Representatives of the participants will be further trained to be able to make decisions for the benefit of the community in the future. In addition, all participants make an appropriate contribution to the sustainable financing of the cooperative. Thus, the cooperative will be able to finance itself as early as 2023.

Sustainability at the top of the field

The Cherponi Farming Project thus implements the triad of sustainability: ecologically sustainable, as it strengthens the resilience of the soil and ecosystems. Economically sustainable, as the farming families can independently generate sufficient income and the project can be self-sustaining upon completion. And socially sustainable, as men and women are equally involved in the project and the local community is strengthened.

We are very pleased to be able to continue on this path with all those involved. Please support us in this!