Farming, Rural Ghanaian Style

So if coming to Ghana to work in the Agriculture sector wasn’t good enough for my green thumb/brain, I just happen to be staying with a community of farmers. Saakuu, my host brother, studied agric in SS, taught it at school and will be going to College this September to further his studies as he pursues a certificate in Agric business.

A few things I’ve learn from farming and farmers in Lawra but can be summed up in one word, unpredictability.

The 1990s were a decade of steady, improving rains in northern Ghana, but since the turn of the century, the seasons have lost their shape. The region’s five-month rainy reason, from March to August, has shrunk to just two or three months, but sometimes with just as much, if not more, rain. Last year 95mm of rain – 10 per cent the annual – fell on a single day in August, destroying crops and houses. Flooding, normally unheard of in northern Ghana.

This land is my land...

Animals free range and are left to eat neighbors crops. If animals aren’t tied up, disputes can arise when one farmer’s animals are benefiting from another. The number of animals you have is often a distinguishing factor of how wealthy you are. Cattle are the ultimate prize, as they are an endless source of manure but are most often used for the brides dowry.

Settlement patterns and history of the area plays an important role. Lawra is an extremely dense district which has led farmers settled in ways that don’t separate the farm from the house. This means that animals are more likely to roam free, instead of being housed near humans.

Bush burning is a common practice, despite MoFA efforts to encourage farmers to change their behaviour. It is usually done to clear grass so that fire wood is easier to spot, to get rid of pests (rats, snakes, mice, spiders). However, this practice is depleting the recycling of essential nutrients back into the soil. Composting is a labour and time intensive process so when farmers go to clear land, they rather burn it. Organic farming is almost out of the question for many farmers, considering the soil is so depleted as it is. Without behaviour changes from farmer and MoFA level the dependence on fertilizer and pesticide chemicals will only continue. Organic manure can be difficult to get a hold of, if your animals aren’t housed in so chemical fertilizer is an easier alternative. It’s really easy to take the chemical fertilizer route because of the subsidies offered by MoFA and the difficulty to acquire more organic forms of manure.

Global warming is starting to show its ugly face and is increasing the level of environmental refugees in the country. Quite how many people are going to leave the savannahs of northern Ghana has the attention of policymakers in the capital. In Accra, as in Lawra, the question of what to do about environmental migration, and climate change as a whole, is entirely bound up in the overall challenge of development.

My small-small farm.

As for my farm, my groundnuts, which are a main cash crop, was planted on June 4th in rows about a foot apart (as per MoFA suggestion!), they’ve been weeded once and are near ready for harvest. As for my Maize, it’s suffering because I haven’t added fertilizer because I can’t find organic forms and I refuse to uses chemicals. I’m beginning to understand the ease of allure of chemical fertilizer, especially when MoFA gives farmers coupons that subsidize about half the cost.

The reaction of my community has been nothing but positive. At first, everyone was asking Sam why a white man was planting in his farm but he’s made it very clear my eagerness to learn, and he’s really proud to assist me. “You’ve done well!”, “you’re becoming Ghanaian”, “when in Rome/Lawra…”. A few farmers have jokingly challenged me to a weeding race, of which i would likely lose. I’m really happy with the level of integration I’ve had in such a short time span. I never really realized just how easygoing I can be in new situations.

Some members of the community take the other approach when they learn that I’m living and farming with farmers. That is, they think I am a uptight westerner who is used to hot showers, refrigerators and whatever else. They are shocked and appalled to learn where I am staying and can’t believe MoFA would allow it.

The screams of baby goats are quite similar to those of small children…

Juicy ticks.

Only half done my weeding!

Pretty goats all in a row.

GROW FASTER!

Tasting the fruits of my labour.

There’s nothing more enjoyable than knowing exactly where your food came from. The disconnect we seem to have in North America about our food is quite amazing. Don’t get me started on the whole genetically modified issue. Growing up with giant peppers, tomatoes and onions and seeing them grow here without genetic modification is really amazing. “Why is everything so small?”, because that’s how they’re supposed to be. I’ve come to respect the land so much more when you actually have invested your own energy in it, been able to watch it grown as if I’m coaching it to do better everyday. Farming is risky. Agriculture is pretty new and it’s important to keep working to try and reduce the harm when, god forbid, nature is unpredictable. It’s a sweet and sour feeling to know that many are still at the mercy of the earth.

Before:

After!

Can you spot the foreign species? Basil! Orko!

I wish I could stick around to help harvest, not to mention really taste the fruits of my labour. Learning the next steps, how to get the produce to markets would be my next learning which I'm hoping to pass on to the new JF volunteer that is coming, Elizabeth!

Through the Maize, over the hills and off to the village we go....

I have just come back from a village stay in an undisclosed location of Western Africa. Saakuu (my host brother) and I literally biked into the bush to the village of the man who makes the keys for his xylophone business. The upper west region, of which I have called home for the past 3 months, is the most remote and little-visited of Ghana’s administrative regions. For some reason, the fact that I was staying 3 km outside of the district capital of Lawra, the smallest district in the region, with a family of farmers wasn’t remote enough. So, into the bush we went. Where would we end up, I hadn’t a clue. We strapped a weekend supply of yams, mangoes, rice, tinned tomatoes along with our bed nets and we were off.

An hour into our ride and my bicycle ran a flat. Great. Stuck in the bush with a flat and no pump. Game over. We’re done for. Bring on the lions. However, the great thing about Ghana is that you can ask most anyone for help and they’ll do their best to accommodate you. We saw a compound, and were warmly welcomed and 30 minutes later, we were on our merry way with my puncture fixed (after taking an offering of a gourd-full of pito, local millet beer, of course).

Another hour passed. We were lost. Lost in the bushes of rural Ghana. Now we’re done for. This is it, bring on the hyenas. Saakuu assured me that he knew the way, and so I just kept following him, deeper and deeper into the Savannah. We kept riding and came to another compound and voila, were pointed on our merry way (after taking an offering cool borehole water, of course).

We emerged from the maze of trees and grass to discover a veritable ecosystem of human life. At the centre of the community lies a pretty steep hill on which all compounds are built. The mother compound like I’ve never seen before. Most of the time, compounds are individual. This one was a dense amalgamation of homes. Along the slopes rise the maize that seems to be doing pretty well, sparked jealousy in Saakuu and I.

We are warmly welcomed by our hosts, whose kids run to us to collect and guide our bike inside. “Fo ziema!” I greet the family and they all start laughing in shock at my Daagare. “A sorbe song?” (how was the journey?), O bay song! (fine!), more laughter. “Fo morah!” the mother says (you’re doing well!). I run through the regular list of Ghanaian greetings (how’s the house, how is work, how are the children, how is your husband, how is your health) and with each greeting the woman becomes more and more hysterical, as if each question were a bullet.

A number of kids poke their head around the compound door and spy me, others come in to watch the adults conversing but really they’re just here to ogle the hairy white man. We exchange stares as I look at them with curiosity, trying to see myself in their eyes.

As it was getting late and the sun was setting we have plenty to do. It was market day in the village and the rain was threatening. Whenever there’s a market, I’m there. No exception, I don’t care if I get washed away. Let’s go. So we got on our bikes, Saakuu and I, Kakper and son on our backs and we headed off to market with the storm growing stronger in the sky. That’s the thing about this part of Ghana. You are always looking to the sky to see if, finally, the rains are coming. We arrived at dark, to a small gathering at the side of road where small fried bean flour cakes are being sold with hot pepper and salt in giant leaves. Men and women take pito and apeteshie, local gin from palm, inviting us to join.

The next morning, the community members started coming to welcome Saakuu and I. Before I was up there were already 10 people sitting and drinking pito in the compound. There’s nothing like taking pito and having a marriage proposal (“You should take me and send me to your place!”) by a 70 year old woman with a baby on her back before 8am. At 9, we headed to the centre of the compounds to meet the chief. It’s custom to greet the chief, and buy him a drink if you plan on staying the night in his village. I had time to ask him two questions. What is the biggest problem in the community? He informed me that there are only two boreholes for a population of nearly 500, both of which are spoiled. The community relies on rain water, river water and a nearby swamp to meet all of its needs. What are you most proud of? To which he simply replied: we don’t give up on each other.

We were off to visit the farm, managed to gather a few shea and ora fruits (I have no idea what the English name is but it can be described as a sweet and sour aril fruit, for those of you have taken a botany class). We even caught a rabbit for dinner! On the way back, we found a few of the scarce trees. Liga, that Saakuu uses for his xylophone keys. He get them from Kakper no cost, as the tree is relatively abundant in this area (Kakper and Saakuu’s family have a close history and friendship of reciprocated assistance. Apparently my presence has only helped to strengthen the ties between these two men. I think the white man card shows just how serious Saakuu is about his business, or so he has told me. The biggest frustration I’ve had is not being able to communicate. Kakper is the most adorable man, with the most contagious laugh and warmest eyes. Some things don’t need to be said.

I watched as Saakuu and Kakper carved away at the pieces of wood, revealing a rich- mahogany like wood beneath a dirty grey bark. While the rabbit was being smoked and the TZ was being stirred, and the keys being carved, I climbed up on the roof of the compound to get a look at the entire village and surroundings. Beyond the farms lay the Black Volta. In the distance you can start to see the lights of the communication towers of lovely little Lawra town twinkling.

After dinner, we headed over to the community’s most well known xylophonist. In the dark we followed the sound through the maze of the compounds to the heart of the village. Saakuu was invited to join. Their instruments not only speak to each other but inviting dancers to the fire. As the rain dance song was played, I was pulled into the centre to join the other men as they quickly move their torsos to the sound of the beat while hopping on alternating feet. I’ve got it down. I couldn’t tell if they wanted me to dance and were laughing because I was doing the wrongs moves, or dancing the way women do. In any case, when in doubt, it’s because you’re white. “You’re doing well!” fellow dancers shout.

Too hot from dancing around a fire boiling away some shea nuts, we went back to our compound. After a refreshingly cool bucket bath by moonlight I was in bed under a holey mosquito net. Tomorrow we would head home with just as much as we came with. Offerings of rabbit, eggs, chicken and all the keys that were carved strapped to our bikes. Another day, another adventure.

To Market to Market

On market mornings, my favourite thing to do is take my tea by the roadside and greet all the early morning market goers.

As many of you may know, I’m a market man. Or, as hippy –Halifax- farmer’s market frequenters go, I am THE bread man. That is, I work at the weekly farmers’ market in Halifax (and will be doing so for another year when I get back!). I have the comfort of working behind a counter… with plenty of space from the long line of eager organic-French bread/freshly baked croissant- consumers. I forgot what it’s like to be on the other side of the counter.

My very first market experience here in Ghana was in Tamale, the biggest city and gateway to the Northern regions. It was an overwhelming, almost suffocating experience. The market in Tamale is a maze of corridors, cramped full of stalls and crowds. The amount of people, the disorientation, and the variety of new sights, smells and sounds left me on the brink of an anxiety attack. I had to rush out of the market and take a breather.

My first impression of Markets in Ghana was, “but… everybody is selling the same things?”. At my market in Halifax, everyone is offering something different. There are three different kinds of bakeries, a variety of crafts and artisans selling homemade goods. You get your tofu from Acadiana soy lady, you get your jam from the Mennonites (or if you want the high end stuff, you go to Tangled Garden), you get your ice cream from DeeDees, your meat from Sweet Williams etc. Here, there is much more competition for goods. When the rains finally start becoming more regular up here in the north, vegetable season will kick in and the market will be flooded. This is good for consumers, but not so good for producers. Simple economics, too much supply means a lower price for farmers. Those who benefit most right now are the market women who go to southern areas and purchase good and have them shipped up here and make a profit.

Most markets occur every 6 days. Special buses are scheduled to connect people on market days from all around the region. As a lot of vegetables at this time of the year are grown in southern regions there is a lot more transport to get those goods to markets around the north.

Non- Market day at Lawra:

On Market day, this empty space becomes a plethora of sights, sounds, smells and people: tons of women sit on the ground with mats full of vegetables for sale (tomatoes, baobab leaves, okra, onions, hot pepper etc). There are stalls for rice, beans and maize, groudnuts (peanut) and all kids of grains available by the bowlful. Between the stalls, small boys pulling carts with bags of seeds and grain. Others pull wagons piled high with clothes for sale (what I assume to be the leftovers of Value Village), ringing a bell and screaming “1 GHANA, 1 GHANA, 1 GHANA”! There are huts at the back of the market for taking Pito, local maize or millet beer, where people of all ages hang out and grandmothers offer you a gourd-full to drink.

“Nasado, come and buy my onions”.

On the other side of the market is the fast food: namely kose, deep fried bean flour cakes with hot pepe and salt. You can get them in balls to dip in pepe or as pancakes to take with cabbage and baobab.

Mme. Dabaraa, Sam’s father's 4th wife. I am drawn to this woman!

Scattered allover the market are girls with giant plates of fruit, boiled groundnuts, tofu-kebabs, or cold sachet water (“ICE-PURE WATAH) and drinks (Aura/Yellow berry fruit juice and Sole Bombeka, which is made from a boiled flower found in Burkina and mixed with Ginger juice) for sale carried on their heads. Crowds swarm the local medicine doctor when a new batch of morenga powder comes in, a local cure all.

Knowing who to go to is difficult, which I have been trained to do at my Market. I try and change up who I am getting what from every week. It’s a great way of meeting new people. The advantage, however of staying with the same vendors is that you usually get a few extra things thrown in. BUT, if become a regular to a vendor, you better be prepared to explain why you were spotted buying from someone else!

It is expected of you to bargain by saying Alabarka (Reduce the price)! When I first arrived, I was worried about being taken advantage of, but its bound to happen until you understand the price for things. Then, when I did figure out the price for things, I found myself over bargaining just because I knew how. I even tried bargaining the only mango vendor in town for a few cents. I’ve since relaxed and usually pay whatever they offer, unless the price is obviously over inflated.

Smocks for sale, get your smocks!
This is the traditional dress for men in the northern regions.

Market is a social event for the entire town. At night, when vendors pack up their goods, and market-goers from all over climb back into a packed bus, piled high with sacks of grains and coal, and head back to their communities, it becomes a veritable playground for courting youth. At the local drinking spot, which is a hut on the side of the road near my compound, community members join in song and dance and drink.

I love markets. Period. It’s a the very centre of Northern Ghanaian life. It’s a lot of fun for me to show off my language skills, laugh and be laughed at.

If only I could stay longer so I could try and sell the things I’ve grown. I think the novelty of buying from a white man (Nasado!) would be pretty profitable.

Heading home from the market with a wailing goat.

Obama is coming, Obama is coming!

President Barack Obama is coming to Ghana, for “small-small” time. EWB is trying to get him to come to the north, or at least, address the issues of the north. Basically, we want him to give a shout out to all Ghana’s Northerners.

How are we doing this?

By asking Junior and Secondary school students in all the districts we are working with to answer the following questions:

1. Why should Obama come to the north?
2. What does Barack Obama mean to you?

 

Lawra Secondary School students in the student lounge

 

Eremon SS students outside class

 

1…2…3… OBAMA!

 

As a symbol of the north, and a welcome package, we have sent all the letters along with a Smock and a Xylophone made by Saakuu.

In all, EWB collected 1400 letters from students all across the North. I contributed around 130 alone…. and considering students in my district were in mid-terms, I’m really happy with the level of engagement. Students’ went beyond answer the questions, but explained in great detail their reasoning. These letters (along with a few items, included the xylophone and company profile of Saakuu) were sent to the US Embassy in Accra. The white house was notified as were several media sources in Ghana, Canada (we were asked by a CBC world producer to give a Canadian reaction to Obama in Ghana).

So much to do...

This blog post is work related dense, so watch out!
It provides an update about the Farmer Innovation and MoFA innovation challenges!

Since the in country retreat and meeting, the objectives of my placement have shifted, expectantly. After months of innovation searching, the AEAs of the three districts that we’ve been working with in the Upper west (Lawra, Sissele East and Wa West), came for a workshop to share innovations, discuss findings and consider next steps. In short, the innovation challenge was all about addressing the issue of low adoption of MoFA technologies because we saw a lot of the time it was inappropriate. More importantly, it is about getting MoFA to see farmers in a new way, and to try new approaches and thus engage Agriculture extension agents to think more critically about the implications of their actions. Also at the workshop, there were a large amount of reasons why there is low adoption (its may not be inappropriate, but it could be because farmers don’t have a business mind). This just happens to tie into the Agriculture as a Business curriculum, the mainstay of our strategy in Agriculture in Ghana.

EWB Guide to the AAB Curriculum
The goal of the Curriculum
First you should know that the curriculum is really just a strategy. Meaning that it is not the goal itself but part of our work to accomplish two main things:
1. MoFA is an innovative, critical, learning organisation (it starts with the curriculum to get AEAs doing things in a different sort of way and for EWB and MoFA to have something tangible around which to criticise, learn from and innovate on!)
2. MoFA is shifting from the production oriented, technology focused to promoting agriculture as a business (we see this is all about strengthening farmer groups and doing business analysis and farm management with farmers)
Where the Curriculum is at overall
The curriculum can roughly be separated into two parts. The first half (cards #1 – 4) focus on farmer group development.

The second half of the curriculum (cards #5 – 8) focuses on business analysis as the cards follow a group through a project such as producing, trading or processing. It has been tested in bits and pieces. Also being tested is the curriculum in its entirety. The whole series of 8 cards have yet to be tried from start to finish. It is uncertain whether the process of going through all 8 cards will be effective for groups and how much AEAs will be flexible with skipping over certain cards. This process is focused on having the groups go through experiences that will develop the group overall – e.g. successful group project and successful group development.

Okay so that's the AAB tool in a nutshell. However, the AAB is not being used in the Upper West and has been more of a ground for other approaches. Suzanne wanted to address another problem, the problem of low adoption and out popped the farmer innovation and mofa innovation challenges which is working to un-root some of the assumptions that AEAs have about farmers as a way of learning about farmer realities in order to provide more relevant extension services. Challenging assumptions and hypothesis testing is something that EWB constantly talks about, but hasn't been addressed in the agric sector strategy. We are working to incorporate some of these ways of learning from testing hypothesis into the AAB.

Farmer Innovation Challenge Update

From the workshop that we had earlier this month, AEAs and MoFA staff got together to share the innovations, indigenous and MoFA adaptations they found and to discuss next steps. Some of the next steps are as follows:

Agric Extension Agent:

-Collect and share indigenous technologies and innovations amongst farmers
-Invite farmers to innovate upon and adapt technologies taught and demonstrate by MoFA
-Facilitate farmer problem solving
-Seek farmer feedback/input into projects and technologies
-Write proposals with farmer groups so they can pursue their own solutions

District Level:
-Give prizes to most innovative farmers on farmer’s day
-Give prizes to AEAs who collect the most farmer innovations
-Create forums for AEAs/farmers to share innovations and indigenous technologies
-Create forums for AEAs to share methods of facilitating farmer innovation/problem solving

Regional/National Level:
-Organize a national or regional wide innovation competition
-Collect promising farmer innovations and send to research

EWB Level:
-Publish a document of all innovations/indigenous technologies found
-Support AEAs and districts in their efforts to promote farmer innovations and generate farmer’s own solutions to the problems that thye face
-Generate farmer solutions on how to move from subsistence farmer to farmring as a business.

As mentioned, one of the discussions that came up when asked about why there is low adoption of technologies by farmers was because farmers don’t take farming as a business. In other words, “farmers don’t invest in their farms”. MoFA policies encourage farmer groups and market oriented approaches to farming. Linking farmers to markets is key which is why, I think, the AAB has really taken off the upper East because it is already something MoFA is promoting. However, we want to investigate further what this means, are farmers not adopting because the technologies are inappropriate or is it a behavioral problem related to business? What are some of the assumptions behind why farmers aren't investing in their farms? How can we test these assumptions, track what we've learned so we can provide more relevant solutions with farmers? The next steps for me is to look more specifically at elements of curriculum and work in ways we can test our assumptions and learn from them. The AAB is mostly a farmer learning tool, however we’re looking to involved more AEA/MoFA and EWB learning. When I was introduced to the idea of promoting Agriculture as a Business, I was immediately skeptical. I've come to realize that giving farmers tools to help them to make choices that can ultimately bring more income to their work is important, given the current capitalist system. But what I enjoy about the work that I'm doing with the Innovation Challenges goes beyond that, it's about coaching AEAs to ask more questions, challenging current ways of providing services to farmers and learn from our mistakes and successes.

What does this mean for the rest of my placement? Well, I’ve decided to specifically work on demonstration plots. Every year, AEAs run demonstrations with farmers on an improved crop variety. They demonstrate the MoFA what when and how’s of the improved crop. Currently, there aren’t any indicators or records for comparison of new crops to old crops that demonstrate the advantages/disadvantages of new vs. old. This means developing a card/tool for AEAs to test their assumptions about the demonstrations, to track what they’ve learned and to see, along with farmers, the results. Then, can AEAs and farmers make better judgment on what works and what is appropriate.

So that's what's going on with the Farmer Innovation Challenge.
There's also the..

MoFA Innovation Challenge


Program description
The MOFA Innovation Challenge is a project which provides some extra incentive and resources for district staff to innovate and experiment with creative ways of improving their work. Specifically, The MOFA Innovation Challenge is a competition between three districts in the Upper West Region to see which district can come out with the most innovative and creative solutions to the problems they face at the district. 2,000 Ghana cedis is available to all staff in the three districts for them to access if they would like to take up the innovation challenge and pilot an innovative approach/idea or project. No-cost innovations are also being encouraged and given special recognition.

The district which comes up with the most innovations, wins! A grand prize will be given to the District Director of the most innovative district. Individual prizes will also be given to staff in both districts whose innovations are particularly creative and useful. All innovations and the learnings generated will be shared across districts and sent to the regional and national level to potentially be scaled up.

Objective
The objective of this challenge is to encourage all MoFA staff at the district level to come up with innovative new ways of doing their jobs which will improve the relevancy, efficiency and effectiveness of MoFA work. It is important to note that the goal of this challenge is to encourage innovation and learning and therefore we are looking to support creative, new and experimental ideas. These kinds of projects/approaches may be of higher risk with uncertain outcomes, but the goal is to experiment and learn from our experience so that we build our capacity to innovate and drive change. There are no boundaries or limits to they types of innovations which staff can pursue – the aim is to think outside the box and learn from the innovation process.

Justification
For any organization to be effective it must be continuously learning from its experiences, identifying problems, finding innovative solutions and changing its approach. The people that are in the best position to learn, identify problems, innovate and drive change are the ones who experience the problems themselves. At the district level, it is district staff themselves who have the most clear idea of what the problems are within the district and what the most appropriate solutions to these problems might be. AEAs, DAOs and DDAs are in the best position to learn, innovate and drive change at the district.

Preliminary Results.

A total of 18 innovations were proposed by district staff from Sissala East, Wa West and Lawra. All innovations were assessed by a committee of staff at the district level and finally 8 innovations have been chosen for funding. A total of 5 no cost innovations are also being pursued.

LAWRA
The Lawra district has been awarded 1250 Ghana cedis to pursue the following innovations. 3 no cost innovations are also being implemented in the Lawra district which do not require any outside resources.

Disabled Farmer Demonstration: An AEA will do one of his demonstration plots with a blind farmer. The AEA will invite other disabled farmers to the field days, as well as other AEAs from the district. The goal is to encourage AEAs to work with disabled farmers and show that they can be successful recipients of packages.

Suggestion Box: The DDA will create a suggestion box to be placed in the district office where staff can anonymously offer feedback. The suggestions will be read at the montly meetings and a committee f staff will be created to deal with the issues that arise.

Weather Forecast Farmer Training: An AEA will hold a workshop to sensitize farmers in his operational area on the functioning of the new weather forecast gadgets which have been distributed to the districts. The goal is to gather farmer feedback and build trust and demand for weather reports. At the workshop farmers will also develop a system for disseminating the weather forecasts amongst themselves.

AEA Conceived Demonstration: An AEA will conduct a demonstration on a farming practice that he finds most pertinent to the farmers in his operational area and on a topic of which he has particular expertise. Specifically, the AEA will conduct a bee-keeping demonstration which is an income generating project which can be pursued during the dry season.

AEA Ideas for Demonstrations (NO COST): The district will collect AEA ideas for demonstration crops/practices which would be most relevant to the district and based upon AEA expertise. Dry season demonstration ideas will also be collected.

Outside Experts to the Field (NO COST): An AEA brings a range of experts, students, professionals and friends to the field so that they can share their own ideas with farmers, learn from farmers and generate a deeper appreciation for rural challenges.

Participatory Technology Development (NO COST): An AEA is working with a farmer to engineer a local injection pod – using local resources and expertise. The AEA and the farmer have partnered in a unique way to develop a technology together from the bottom-up.

So, I'm working hard to support AEAs and they take on their change projects!
I have a lot to do, and not much time to do it.
There are also bunch of other things I've been involved with. I have a friend who is starting a music shop in town, there is Sam's business, other projects I'm learning about and then my FARM (stay tuned for the big farm post... coming up soon!)

Questions welcome, bring 'em on!

Peace and love from the Upper West/Best side.

Baaru & Sons Xylophone Centre

 

Hey everyone, here’s the company profile of Saakuu, my host/brother/roommate/teacher. I now have a contact at 10,000 villages, an organization in Canada and the US that works closely with artisan groups in developing countries to understand their needs and ensure they meet acceptable standards (fair wages and working conditions) to protect employees and the environment.

My contact at 10,000, Farah of the music department, has informed me that due to current sales levels and the request from existing artisan groups for more work, we cannot form any new relationships at this time.    However, I am more than  welcome to send a catalogue and/or information about the centre organization to have on file for future reference. My next steps then are to put together a wicked file on Sam’s behalf!  Be sure to check out the video at the end of this profile!

 

Baaru and Sons Xylophone Learning Centre

Motto: Sky’s the Limit
P.O. Box 96
Lawra, Upper West Region
Ghana, West Africa
Phone (233) 20-8917027
Alt phone (233) 24-6977696

Company Profile

Baaru and Sons Learning Centre operates in the Upper West Region of Ghana. Based in Kouli Junction in the Lawra District of the Upper West Region, it was founded in 2006 by the Baaru and Sons who envisioned forming such a Learning Centre to train and promote our youth to become self employed and promote our culture. Baaru and Sons mandate is to combat migration of the youth into other Regions for jobs that are not available, through the implementation of sustainable cultural development projects aimed at assisting the youth to increase their income security while improving their skills in xylophone production. Baaru and Sons concentrates its training to all interested individuals and targets the youth who become the future leaders of tomorrow.

Mission

1. To be the number one xylophone producer and to market our products in the international market.
2. To train women, men, and children to preserve and develop their culture by protecting the natural resources.
3. To work in partnership with development agencies, government and communities to improve and sustain our culture by increasing their capacities and skills in the xylophone industry.

Objectives

• Enhancing the livelihood and income security of resource poor.
• Improving the cultural values of our community.
• Supporting the local technocrats to quality product.
• Building the leadership qualities of the youth for sustainable development.

What we do / Community Programs

Relying on our enterprise manpower, material resources, information resources, our greatest effort is to best serve our clients. Along with our growing company, we support every person who passes through our training program with a little start up capital and basic tools. We are involved in xylophone manufacturing, education, and environmental protection.

Protecting the Environment

Baaru and Sons is working with the Ghanaian Ministry of Agriculture and The Savanna Agricultural Research Institute protect the environment and to ensure its sustainability for future generations.. Currently we are involved in tree planting programs to promote the sustainability of our projects and to prevent deforestation.

Xylophones as a part of African culture

Referred to as “The Beginning and the End” the xylophone plays an integral part in Ghanaian and African culture. They xylophone is used to celebrate birthing ceremonies, school performances, funerals, and at church and religious ceremonies.

Please go to the following address for a more visual interpretation of this company profile:

http://vimeo.com/3515667

Holy Mole

It's tourist time.

The EWB Ghana team is scattered in the upper west, upper east and northern regions and are working in 2 sectors: Agriculture as well as Governance. The long term overseas staff (LTOVs) get together every month in Tamale to regroup, stratagize, give updates, share best practices/stories and have a few beers. Now that us Junior Fellows have been in country for a month, it was time for us to head to our first in country.

Before hand, we spent a couple days to ourselves to reflect on our own experiences. We also were given the chance to check out Mole national park and play tourist.

Mole (like guacaMOLE) was designated as a national park in 1971 and is the largest and best known of Ghana’s national parks. It comprises an area of 4840 square km of open savannah woodland, boval, riverine forest, floodplain grassland and swamp that supports a rich diversity of flora and fauna.

What Ghana is missing is that big tourist attraction. The country isn't known for it's game viewing in the same way that East Africa is, that's for sure. The pro is that there are few people at the park in any given time and allows for exploring by foot. The con is that the infrastructure to the park is in pretty rough shape and things are ludicrously overpriced.



- Taking a Trotro from Domongo, West Gonja to Mole Park.



-James, our guide for the day.


Baboons came to greet us at the gates. They are pretty much trained to know that non-Africans are easy targets for food snatching. The trick to scare them away when you're trying to enjoy your lovely, imported, 7 dollar plate of french fries by the Mole park poolside is to assume the slingshot position with your hands.


-Bush Buck prints!


-Baboons and warthogs have it rough.





Introducing Loxodonta africana!
















'Twas an amazing trip!
I'll be honest.
I got a little misty eyed seeing the elephants.
They're such a powerful animal and yet they move so softly and are such playful beings.

James expressed his concerns for the amount of poaching that still occurs in the park, as well as the use of bush burning by local communities that damages a considerable amount of habitat. This is something I've heard a lot about during my time working with MoFA. The practice is done for a variety of reasons: for aesthetics, to clear grass so that fire wood is easier to spot, to get rid of rats/spiders/mice/snakes, preparing the land for planting amongst others.

In farming communities, bush burning is a much easier way of dealing with organic matter as composting making is especially labour intensive and takes time. MoFA tells farmers to recycle their organic matter, but there isn't much incentive or support for composting, especially when there is an easier route of using chemical fertilizer, which farmers get at a subsidized rate with MoFA coupons. Farmer behavior is difficult to challenge, so is MoFA approach to extension. Often, this practice is just another reason why farmers are deemed as lazy, illiterate and don't adopt technologies. The first step to bringing more appropriate extension services to farmers is understanding to get MoFA AEAs to understand and value why farmers behave the way they do. This is where getting AEAs to see farmers in a new light and to value what farmers are doing how the innovation project fits in. We had an innovation workshop, and invited AEAs and MoFA staff from 3 districts to share the innovations they've found and to talk about the next steps. I'll leave that update for the next time!

I'm back in Wa for the day and heading up to Lawra after a week and a half of being out of the community. The country meeting has got me recharged to try a few new things at work. I'm especially excited to see how my field is doing!

Love from the upper west (and best) side!