By Joyce Kantam Kolamong
Farmers in Northern Ghana are facing a dire situation, battling both devastating post-harvest losses and a severe dry spell that is exacerbating food insecurity and economic hardship.
The dry spell has drastically reduced crop yields, affecting maize, millet, sorghum, groundnuts, and vegetables the most.
Post-harvest losses in Ghana range from 20 percent to 50 percent of the average harvest, largely due to poor handling practices, inadequate storage facilities, and lack of knowledge.
In a bid to address this, 45 District Directors of Agriculture and Extension officers from the Savannah Region have undergone a 2-day training program in Tamale. The training, organised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), was aimed at equipping participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to manage and reduce post-harvest food losses.
The training formed part of a 10 million European Union Food Security Response in Northern Ghana, facilitated by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA).
The 10 million EU Food Security Project was launched in September 2023 to support over 10,000 smallholder farmers affected by health-related crises, the conflict in Ukraine, and climate variability. The project provides support to six food-insecure districts, including Kassena Nankana West and Bongo Districts in the Upper East Region, North Gonja, North-East Gonja, and Central Gonja Districts in the Savannah Region, and Bunkpurugu and Nakpanduri in the North East region.
It focuses on increasing maize, millet, sorghum, soybean, groundnut, and vegetable production. It also supports poultry and piggery production and animal health support. The project is accelerating efforts to mitigate the effects of the dry spell that occurred between July and August 2024. It will focus on boosting livestock and poultry production, promoting dry-season vegetable cultivation, offering alternative livelihoods to affected farmers, and building resilience against future climate shocks.
Emergency and Rehabilitation Officer at FAO Regional Office for Africa, Abeshaw Gebru, emphasised the dangers of post-harvest losses and the importance of addressing the problem to secure farmers’ livelihoods and protect Northern Ghana’s food basket.
He said farmers have challenges at harvesting, processing, and storage; therefore, the training would be made accessible to the community level.
“The directors will be working on a work plan on how to scale down this training with the skills and the technologies to the community level for them to have access to those technology to reduce post-harvest challenges. The expectation for the participants is to refresh their knowledge on post-harvest loss reduction, the tools, and technology and impact those lessons learned to the communities so they will be committed to scale down the trainings in the communities,” he noted.
District Director for North-East Gonja, Naomi Zaato, noted that many farmers in the Savannah Region were severely affected by the dry spell. She noted that both early and late planters lost their crops to the spell and expressed optimism that the training would enable farmers to preserve and store their yields effectively.
“This training is very key at this time for the current situation.The current condition that we had this year was a condition of the dry spell that affected severely. The training is very necessary because, with the current condition and situation that we have, a lot of farmers were severely affected by the dry spell. They that planted early lost their crops during the dry spell, and they that planted late also lost.”
The project plans to organise specialised training programs for 90 Agricultural Extension Agents (AEAs) and District Directors of Agriculture on improved post-harvest management practices in operational areas.
