The Agroecological Way
The Upper East Region of Ghana has two seasons, the rainy season, which starts in May and ends in September; and the dry season, which starts in October and ends in April. During the rainy season, farmers grow major crops that can be stored during the dry season such as Millet, Sorghum, Groundnut, Bambara Beans, Maize, Rice, and Cowpeas. Minor crops that can be grown all year round with access to water are Tomatoes, Peppers, Okra and other leafy vegetables, which are typically grown around rivers, streams, and other small water bodies.
In 2017, I connected with TRAX Ghana, a non profit organization that works with smallholder farmers in northern Ghana. They support farmers to build sustainable livelihoods in both the Upper East and Northern regions. And in 2021, they continue to support smallholder farmers to achieve food security by building their capacity to use local and indigenous materials, knowledge, and an integrated soil fertility management as the base of their agriculture.
Second row standing, in the white and black long sleeve is Solomon, TRAX Ghana field coordinator
Furthermore, TRAX Ghana works with farmers from an agroecological model, a framework that seeks to grow food with the principles of ecology by incorporating and encouraging interactions with animals, plants, pollinators, and humans. In short, agroecology is growing food in accordance with the natural and native ecology of the particular region one wants to farm.
TRAX Ghana offers integrated soil fertility management practices and environmental conservation program that educates farmers on organic liquid manure preparation and application, grass stripping, cover cropping & green manure, tree growing, natural regeneration, and etc.
Today, most subsistence farmers rely heavily on chemical fertilizer, and hazardous pesticides to grow their food. So many kinds of adulterated, inappropriate, and expired chemical products are sold by dealers to farmers. A large number of farmers purchasing chemical fertilizers are illiterate, mostly unaware how to protect themselves, and uninformed on the dangers of handlings, exposing and applying chemical fertilizers.
Hazardous pesticide wrapper found in dry season farming garden.
Although TRAX Ghana advises against the use of chemical fertilizers and trains farmers on a model that builds the health of the soil, the economic challenges and lack of education forces many smallholder farmers to choose what seems like an easier path, the agrochemicals.
The impact of the chemical fertilizer is astounding, the rivers and streams are contaminated. These are water bodies that children play in, and some families go to even wash their clothes. During the dry season, these water bodies are what some communities may drink from. After a few seasons, farmers begin to see their soil erode, and during the dry season, some lands begin to adopt the characteristics of desertification.
Dry season farming with chemical fertilizers.
In 2017, I went to two communities with TRAX Ghana to meet farmers who were growing sustainably without chemicals, and I also got to meet those who grew with chemicals along the way. In 2021, I am here again, documenting ancestral foods, and as we travel to communities to talk to various households, women's groups, and farmers, the impact of using chemicals is stark with the loss of grasslands, native trees, dried water bodies, and many infertile farming land.
The only way to do agriculture is agroecology. Climate change informs us of this. Sustainable agriculture is impossible without agroecology. Nature already knows this. TRAX Ghana knows the quality of the food we eat lives in the quality of the soil. If the soil is contaminated with chemicals, then what are we consuming? But most importantly, in the long term what becomes of the livelihood of the farmers growing with hazardous pesticides and chemical fertilizers?
