Summary
AGRI-WEB seeks to plant fruit trees and annual vegetable crops in 1,500 Ghanaian households. We are passionate about restoring the edible landscapes of Ghana where most fruits and vegetables are home grown and organic. The fruit trees we are planting include Mango, Coconut, Avocado, Citrus and Soursop whiles vegetables such as carrots, tomatoes, chili pepper and aubergines will be included. Building interest in agriculture is essential for economic development and environmental protection.
Challenge
As interest in backyard farming has reduced to the barest minimum, there is high demand on commercial farms to produce more food with existing resources. This has pushed most commercial farms to rely on unsafe agronomic practices such as the over application of chemicals to meet demand in the shortest possible time. This is evident in the number of times vegetables from Ghana has been banned from entering the EU market. Urbanization has also reduced the interest of the youth in farming.
Solution
Providing training and planting fruit tree crops and vegetables will significantly reduce the barriers to home gardening.The agricultural conversation will extend to household as children have the opportunity to practice what they learn in school about agriculture. Our strategy is to mix short term annual crops with long term fruit tree crops to sustain interest in understanding the life cycle of crops whiles promoting organic production.
Long-Term Impact
An incentive of free organic fruits will create a sustainable and inclusive reforestation project in Ghana. The outbreak of Covid 19 has caused most individuals to invest in eating healthy foods and this project will sustain the awareness. In the long term, we expect to minimize demand on purchasing fruits and vegetables locally to help commercial farms make more revenue by adding value to supply the international market and this will also improve the forex reserves of the country for growth.