The reason for the shift is that it has historically been a focus and that the recent attention from the private sector in our innovations demonstrates that the agricultural advisory services system in Ghana is a complex one. We need to work with all stakeholders who are involved in these services to truly address the root causes of poverty and food insecurity.

We believe that since extension is the primary way that farmers can gain information about how to farm better that it is an important strategic focus. This includes growing a higher quality and quantity of food, as well as environmental preservation and expanding livelihoods. In a region where over 80% of the population is involved in agriculture, extension is a very important service.

Extension is as much about the how as the what. It’s one thing to have a cache of good agricultural info, but selling it to farmers is another challenge. For educated people or those who make rational decisions, simply providing information is enough: they will make the most profitable choice, or the one that maximizes their benefit. But for all the real human beings out there, extension is as much about marketing strategy as providing good information.

This does not mean that we will no longer work in the public sector, it just means strategically we will not be confined to it. I am currently partnering with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) in the Northern Region of Ghana because I believe in a strong public sector in supporting agricultural development in Ghana. For instance, one of the things I am working at the Savelugu-Nanton district level in the Northern Region of Ghana to upgrade the Agriculture As A Business (AAB) program so it is better prepared and marketable to those in the public or private sector interested in implementing the program.

We bring a farmer-focus or centered approach to extension services and conduct rapid-prototyping of solutions for providing better advice to farmers so they adopt new technologies. The main goal is to have farmers in Ghana have a more active role in their livelihoods, in making a decision of what to grow and how to grow it, while choosing the options or opportunities available to them.

If you are interested in learning about the tools and innovations tried and tested by our team, please contact me at +233-105-0954 or sieravercillo@ewb.ca

My Backyard

“Desba” – Good morning or how is the morning?
“naaaa” – response or fine
“Agbirre” – how was your sleep?
“Gombienne” – fine
“To” – ok

They have already begun sweeping the animal droppings, dust and other debris away that has wound itself around their house during the night. I walk down the path to the public latrines across from the Primary and Junior High School and unlock the one that belongs to me – yes, I get my own latrine.

There is a goat pen behind my backyard. The people take very good care of the animals and let them roam free in the day

I wash my clothes by hand at least once a week

For breakfast I use my gas cooker to fry two eggs with onions and some bread with raspberry jelly that I bought from the ‘white people’ store in the ‘city’ of Tamale. Sometimes I will settle for extremely, special pasteurised yogurt and cream cheese not found in the village. If I had not made lunch the night before (leftovers from dinner) I will prepare a tuna or egg sandwich with some type of vegetable (tomato, carrot, green pepe, garden eggs or apple). I do not have a fridge so all the goods I buy have to survive in the heat of the kitchen, although the mornings are cool now so life is good.

My kitchen

Where I bathe every morning, my bucket, cup and soap

View from the front door of the hallway

I am first to arrive at the office at 9:30AM, and I spend time chatting with the Watchmen and cleaners who have begun their day much earlier than mine. They unlock my office, which happens to be the ‘Extension office’ where I share a room with the Deputy – Supervisor of Extension of crops and also the Director’s right hand man. I begin to fulfill the plan of the day, which could be to prepare to go into the field, prepare for a workshop I will host, write reports and other administrative duties or visit a few farmers. As I do this, it is necessary to greet the staff who arrive and ask about their evening away from the office. How was your sleep? How is the family? How is your body? Are you feeling healthy? Is the 40 degree Celsius heat in the middle of the afternoon paining you? Then we complain about the dryness of our skin and scratchy throats from the extreme range in temperatures of the Harmattan weather. One of the staff will usually follow me or I follow them to a room to chit chat and I also try and spend time speaking to the Director, who I get along with well.

One of the Watchmen holding my favourite type of meat - Guinea Fowel

1.Implement the Agriculture as a Business (AAB) Program jointly created by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and EWB. AAB is a farmer group strengthening tool that encourages rural groups to take on small projects in agribusiness. It also builds the advisory capacity of Agriculture Extension Agents (AEA) to progress their skills in teaching and providing information to farmers. Working towards developing the knowledge, skills, attitudes and approaches to help staff perform better in the field whether on time management, innovation, facilitation, or market-oriented approaches is what I more generally work on. I am adjusting the tool so we can market and prepare it for private based extension services who have expressed interest in it. The program is heavily reliant on farmer meetings, which means I am in the field significantly more to do one-on-one coaching with the AEAs and evaluation of program effectiveness with farmers.

Rice piled up at the office

2.This one-on-one interaction with staff and farmers also provides me with a unique opportunity to pursue the favourite part of my job – testing innovations. I am working with AEAs, their Supervisors and the Director to identify existing technologies that could be further or newly invested in. More importantly, how we can prototype one or many of the identified ideas related to increasing the technology adoption rates of farmers. Some of those ideas include, peer-peer learning for farmer behaviour change, coordination, radio program on extension and a few others.

This is the time for harvesting - they are shelling maize

3.Lastly, and what I think most importantly, I am working towards utilizing district level knowledge (farmer perspectives), challenges, and needs to develop policy reports for advocacy to national level government. District level realities are often missed out in the design of projects and procedures and because decision making is extremely top-down, lobbying those district realties to regional and national level MOFA, other NGOs and projects is important influence work.

Fadila the typist and I

Back home Moses is preparing food and I am greeted by all the neighbourhood children who take pride in helping with my bags and telling me about their day. I prepare for dinner that evening, either pasta or rice with vegetables to ensure a balanced diet. Multi vitamins, probiotics and anti-malarial drugs have saved me a bit. By 6:00pm the world is dark and Moses and I will share some tea and chat about the day: Canada-Ghana relations, the news or whatever else happens to be bothering us. Sometimes friends from work like Felicity or other people from different communities like Jaamal and Ganiwu will drop by and visit.

At 8:30PM I am exhausted from the day and decide to clean the kitchen, and prepare my bathwater. Fill the bucket half with water and heat small water in the kettle. It is just too cold for cold bucket bathes in the evening these days. Settle in my bed, under the net again to have a phone conversation with a fellow EWBer, family member in Canada or the boyfriend.

My bedroom

That is an average day in my life here in Ghana and I am so pleased that it is mine!

Truth be told, I have gotten a bit lost: lost in the beautiful, frustrating, resource-scarce, welcoming country of Ghana. I have endured extremely frustrating and stressful staff meetings; relaxed next to sunsets with elephants and monkeys; been in an out of hospitals, labs, and doctors offices; and spent most evenings under stars with the safety of my mosquito net.

As I have mentioned in previous posts I am currently in between jobs. I am transitioning from being a backpacking traveler – going from Ministry office to Ministry office, in and out of tro-tros, maneuvering foreign cultural landscapes and endless guesthouses – to Extension Services Innovations Consultant at the Ministry district level. The transition is still happening as I have had a few enjoyable and also frightening setbacks.

I am interested in settling in the Savelugu-Nanton district located about 40 minutes North of Tamale. It is a rice-farming based area because of its unique valleys, and is the largest district in the Northern Region. The Ministry of Food and Agriculture office is located in a village just North of the district capitol called Pong-Tamale. The majority of the people in the village are Dagomba people, but there is also a Hausa community, which I had the pleasure to be introduced to. The village has a small town feel with one main road, circular hut-like compounds, one tro-yard, some food stands and no main running water pipeline. I was told that most people do not originate from the area, but have arrived throughout the years looking for farm land as urbanization has pushed farmers further away from the city.

Colleague Dom's Investment Talk with Women's Group

The Ministry district office is relatively well resourced and maintained with clean offices, a few working computers, ceiling fans, a larger room for staff meetings and even a working air conditioner in the Director’s office. Not surprisingly, there is no toilet, urinal or running water as the village has pipeline problems. I have yet to actually visit a district Ministry level office that has working toilets. I think most of the staff live in Tamale or their operational areas and commute everyday to work causing the work day to start and end later than usual. To my knowledge, there has never been an EWB volunteer work out of this Ministry office and because of this I foresee unique, yet exciting challenges.

Despite the new job, I have had a few very welcomed and not so welcoming distractions. For one, I recently had the pleasure to travel to Mole National Games Reserves / Park for the EWB Mid-Placement Retreat. The group of newer EWB volunteers who traveled with me in August to begin working in Ghana had the opportunity to meet and share some of their experiences and challenges with each other. The retreat was relaxing, full of laughter, and inspiration. Instead of email, phone calls, staff meetings and field visits there were road trip sing-alongs, safari hikes, sunsets, swimming pool drinks, and much needed reflection time. I really felt that all the troubles I was having just settled. The much needed retreat was a refreshing way to begin a new job.

Getting chased by elephants at Mole

Making funny faces at Mole National Park

Tracking Elephants at Mole National Park

Immediately after the retreat we dove into a team meeting where I was reunited with my EWB public sector agriculture partners in crime. We discussed team strategy and developed actionable items required for the performance-based measures we will be reviewed on come the New Year. It was all very challenging and frustrating, but allowed us to delve deeper into why and how we are doing what we are doing.

My Team for the past 4 months

The largest set back to my work so far has been the recent health problems I have been struggling with and is also the inspiration for the title of the post. Working in a developing country has its real setbacks. It is extremely hot, sanitation is low, resources are scarce and poverty is rampant. These factors alone have taken a toll on my physical and mental health.

Living in the Northern part of the country where the positive effects of development trickles up more slowly than to the rest of the country and also where the health care is less than adequate has taken a toll on me. Every test taken, doctor spoken to and advice provided has been uncertain, unidentifiable and in need of confirmation from another test or more reliable source. Even having to find a more comfortable place to recover in and the worry of catching something else while your immune system is low has been difficult to manage. Its not easy-o! But we are managing. The reality is that most EWB volunteers have to live and work in a resource and knowledge scarce context that often contributes to or compromises our health. It takes just one mosquito bite to get malaria, one water sachet to cause a gastro-intestinal infection and one meal with worms or parasites to set you back. Not to mention that the symptoms for these common mishaps are all similar so determining which one you have has been the real challenge. All of these things are real and have been a cause of concern for me over the past month.

Now that I have my health back I can honestly say I have made worthy realizations:

I have serious respect and appreciation for those who choose to go into the field of medicine. The Doctor advising me is a young-Ghanaian man who works seven days a week, 9 – 9 in the main public hospital in Tamale, on a floor with maybe one other doctor, half a desk available to examine patients and no toilets. After visiting him several times I have learnt a lot about the setbacks Ghanaians face due to resource constraints.

Elephant Skulls and I

Some shocking examples of that reality are written below. Warning! the stories below reflect the reality of what plagues the developing world. It is emotional and difficult to accept, but also not the complete story. If you read these stories, take them as they are – one off examples I experienced and are by no means the entire picture.

During my second visit, the Doctor was distracted with an urgent patient who I was told nonchalantly was going to die within the next hour because he waited too long for treatment. As a friend of mine proceeded to take out a wad of cash, the Doctor laughed and replied, “although I will let the family know that there was an Obruni here willing to help, the issue is not the cost of the drugs, but the accessibility of them. The family is out hunting for the necessary medication, but he will likely be in coma soon.” Those drugs cost 15 cedis (11 dollars). Never have I felt so powerless.

After another few visits, I began asking more and more about the patients. One man breathing heavily in the corner was asking for the oxygen tank. Listening in on their conversation and asking why the tank was taken away from him because clearly he was in need, I was then told that it was given to a more serious patient. The tank had to be shared since there was only one machine available on the floor. As the only naive obruni in the hospital I felt I had to ask how ‘they’ could put a price on oxygen. The Doctor nodded his head and proceeded to explain how they just lost a man because they had to compromise and did not realize how much he needed the tank. So the price was a life.

I tell these stories to demonstrate some of the emotions and realizations I have come across in the past couple of weeks. Because I am Canadian I have access to some of the best medical care in the world. When a Ghanaian gets sick what can she do? She hides inside her uncomfortably hot room and when she can afford to actually go to the hospital or clinic she is left in an unsanitary resource scarce environment, where the tests take several days to show results (if they are correct at all) and the drugs are more difficult to find.

Located in Taha Village just outside of Tamale

This experience has made me very present and aware of my time in Ghana and it is something I will never forget. I thought it a deserving experience to share with you and hope you will be responsible enough to understand. It also provides hope for the future as there is currently being constructed a brand new hospital next door. When I move to a new place I am going to make sure it is one that I can be happy and healthy in. Do whatever any Ghanaian would do if they had the opportunity.

The second realization I have had from being fairly unwell is that no matter how terrible I felt, how frustrating the situation was and what people I love were telling me to do, I know now that I cannot leave this place – not now. There is just too much to do, so much to see and even more to learn.

I am really looking forward to what lies ahead and will keep you all informed with some more stories.

Here is my contribution to the global discussion:

Over the next 40 years, agriculture will have to carry out an enormous task:

* feeding an extra three billion mouths as global population rises from six to nine billion;
* feeding the 854 million human beings who now suffer hunger and malnutrition. (FAO).

Food security is a situation in which all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs for an active healthy life (El-Hage Scialabba, Page 2). The security of food is affected by a number of factors, including an unstable social and political environment that preclude sustainable economic growth, war and civil strive, macroeconomic imbalances in trade, natural resource constraints, poor human resource base, gender inequality, inadequate education, poor health, natural disasters, such as floods and locust infestation, and the absence of good governance. All these factors contribute to either insufficient national food availability or insufficient access to food by households and individuals.

The root cause of food insecurity in developing countries is the inability of people to gain access to food due to poverty. Seventy-five percent of the world’s 1.2 billion poor live in rural areas of developing countries (Mwaniki, Page 3). They suffer from problems associated with subsistence production in isolated and marginal locations with low levels of technology. These subsistence and livelihood systems are risk-prone to drought and floods, crop and animal diseases, and market shocks. Sub-Sahara Africa remains the most food insecure region in the world, with 206 million hungry people. The share of hungry people declined from 35 to 32 percent during the last decade (El-Hage Scialabba, Page 3).

Flooded Crops due to Unpredictable Rains

Taken from the Nadia El-Hage Scialabba Report entitled "Can Africa Feed Itself?"

An Underdeveloped Agricultural Sector in Africa

A major challenge to food security in Africa is its underdeveloped agricultural sector that is characterized by over-reliance on primary agriculture, low fertility soils, minimal use of external farm inputs, environmental degradation, significant food crop loss both pre- and post- harvest, minimal value addition and product differentiation, and inadequate food storage an preservation that result in significant commodity price fluctuation (El-Hage Scialabba, Page 7). Ninety five percent of the food in sub-Saharan Africa is grown under rain fed agriculture (Mwaniki, Pages 7). Making food production vulnerable to adverse weather conditions. There is an overall decline in farm input investment including fertilizers, seeds, and technology adoption. Moreover, the soils continue to degrade leading to a reduction in the productivity of the farms.

Case Study: Ghana’s Agricultural Sector

Ghana faces the challenge of making substantial progress in food security because average yields over the years have remained stagnant. Commercial food imports and food aid have constituted about 4.7 per cent of food needs in the last fifteen years (FASDEP II). Rainfall is a major determinant in the annual fluctuations of household and national food output. This creates food insecurity at household levels, which can be transitory in poor communities and chronic in distressed areas.

Ghanaian farmer participating in National Level Programs

While Ghana can be classified as generally food secure, food-insecure populations exist in all regions because of resource limitations and lack of alternative livelihood opportunities. Malnutrition is a serious problem among children, adolescents and pregnant women due to insufficient levels of food intake and or diets not providing an adequate nutritional intake. Results from the 2003 Ghana Demographic Health Survey (GDHS) indicate that malnutrition contributes 40% to mortality among children less than 5 years. In spite of the improvements the rate of wasting is 3.5 times that expected in a healthy population while the proportion of under-weight children is 11 times the level expected in a well nourished population (FASDEP II).

In high population density areas, such as the Upper East Region, the situation is cyclical and severe for three to five months each year (FASDEP II). There are regional disparities in food insecurity due to seasonal food deficits in the three northern regions.

Near Bolga, Upper East Region, Ghana

Although the objective of attaining food security in Ghana is national, it is the poor that are the most vulnerable to food insecurity.

Food Security Interventions in Ghana

How can Ghana achieve food security? The solution lies in increasing food availability, food access and food adequacy for all. Because the food insecurity in Africa is directly correlated with poverty, it is necessary to not only alleviate poverty, but also create wealth for the target population.

The national vision for the food and agriculture sector in Ghana is modernised agriculture culminating in a structurally transformed economy that is evident in food security, employment opportunities and reduced poverty. In 2002, member countries of the African Union (AU) pledged to allocate at least 10 per cent of national budgetary resources for implementation of CAADP’s seven part vision for modernised agriculture (FASDEP II). The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has, in turn, developed an ECOWAS Agricultural Policy (ECOWAP) to address food security in the sub-region in conformity with existing regional and international commitments. Programme objectives include increased food production and income generation, increased inter-country trade, strengthened producers’ organisations and greater involvement of women in socio-economic decisions that affect household livelihood opportunities (FASDEP II).

The broad national strategy for the attainment of food security is to focus at the national and agro-ecological levels on the development of at most five staple crops (maize, rice, yam, cassava and cowpea) (FASDEP II). The commodities will receive support in terms of irrigation and sustainable management of land, improved planting materials, and appropriate mechanisation, to enhance productivity along the whole value chain.

The specific strategies for the attainment of food security and emergency preparedness are:
• Develop appropriate irrigation schemes for different categories of farmers to ensure production throughout the year.
• Introduce high-yielding and short-duration crops varieties.
• Develop effective post-harvest management strategies, particularly storage facilities, at individual and community levels.
• Liaise with the Ministry of Transportation for road transport and the Ministry of Harbours and Railways to improve accessibility and facilitate the distribution of crops.
• Target the vulnerable in agriculture, with special programmes that will enhance their diversification opportunities, reduce risk and enhance their access to productive resources.
• Enhance nutrition through coordination of programmes and institutions for food security, dissemination of nutrition and health information, and advocacy for food fortification.
• Strengthen early warning systems and put in place emergency preparedness and disaster management scheme, including contingency planning to ensure access of the poor to food during disasters.
• Establish strategic stocks to support emergency preparedness.
• Advocate for improved legal and policy frameworks for collaboration between institutions responsible for disaster management.

One half of rice farm the farmers did not adopt current technology - Damongo, Ghana

For this reason, coordination role of Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) as the lead agency for the development of the sector will be central in the implementation of policies. Greater devolution of responsibilities to the regional and district levels will also be pursued. MOFA defines food security as “good quality nutritious food, hygienically packaged and attractively presented, available in sufficient quantities all year round and located at the appropriate places at affordable prices” (FASDEP II). The element of food safety will be a concern in Ghana’s pursuit of food security.

Engineers Without Border’s (EWB) Interventions – How I am working towards food security in Ghana

A recent study of extension practices and adoption of agricultural technologies across Ghana revealed that while the vast majority of farmers (over 90%) may be aware of modernised technologies, actual adoption rates are still relatively low (Kwarteng et al., Page 3). This correlates well with our own observations from spending time working in district Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) offices. The same study also concludes that farmers receive the majority of their agricultural knowledge from MOFA’s Agricultural Extension Agents (AEAs) with secondary learning from fellow farmers (Kwarteng et al.). This suggests the main problem we should be tackling relates to actual adoption strategies as opposed to the spread of technical information.

Getting my hands dirty with roots and tubers - preparing for yam minisetts

By better understanding the question of why farmers adopt certain technologies and taking a farmer-first approach we hope to influence MOFA’s ability in how they promote them to benefit the farmers’s yields for the reduction of poverty and security of food.

How we will do this:

• We’ll use the McKinsey Influence Model to target and organize our learning:

• We’ll combine our own observations from the field, knowledge gained from other EWB teams and partners, and published literature to ensure a broad perspective in our understanding.
• We’ll keep in mind the social or other ‘irrational’ factors that may limit the spread of technologies and not solely focus on the rational farmer model.

Our current prototypes and what they are influencing:
- Using videos to market technologies: Conviction
- Using pictorial contracts to increase in-kind payments: Understanding
- Testing peer-to-peer farmer learning: Legitimacy
- Testing demand driven extension systems: Relevance and conviction
- Testing a contact farmer assessment tool: Ineffective use of resources

One day I will learn how to drive one - it is not currently the right season

From previous experience, we know how difficult it is to scale up a project within the MOFA system, but we are collaborating and experimenting with staff to see what innovations are going to work in the long term.

Conclusion – How does this relate to food security?

MOFA is a major player in the implementation of national level policy through district activities and projects. We believe that improving the service provision of the Ministry through participatory capacity building and acting as an advocate for farmers’ perspective are necessary factors for food security. Our mission is to bring a farmer-first approach to extension services that are meant to progress the technology adoption rates of farmers. The research has concluded that the extension is doing a sufficient job in disseminating information, as the majority of farmers are aware of new technologies, however where they are failing is in the understanding or conviction and reinforcement mechanisms needed in order for farmers to adopt the new technologies. Improved agricultural practices are often the biggest step to improving farmer yields necessary for food security and poverty reduction. Ensuring farmers are actively partaking in these technologies also means a modernised agriculture sector.

References

El-Hage Scialabba, Nadia. Can Africa Feed Itself?: Organic Agriculture and Food Security in Africa. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Romem Italy. June 6-7, 2007.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. How to Feed the World in 2050.

Food and Agriculture Sector Development Policy (FASDEP II). Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Republic of Ghana. August 2007.

Kwarteng et al., Extension Access and Adoption of Improved Technologies. 2010.

Mwaniki, Angela. Achieving Food Security in Africa: Challenges and Issues. Office of the Special Adviser on Africa United Nations. June 2005.

Technology Adoption Strategy. Engineers Without Borders Canada. August 2011.

Below is a map outlining the travels I have completed. I would estimate that I have probably done more travelling around Ghana than most other EWB staff who have recently arrived, providing me with a unique experience, various challenges and strong personal growth.

Where I have traveled around Ghana so far

The Immersion Period is meant to provide me the opportunity to better understand northern Ghana’s diverse culture and socio-economic context that has been heavily shaped by history. Being aware of this context and how it effects agricultural development is necessary to incorporate into our team’s strategy for the generation and testing of best practice. Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie talks about the “danger of the single story” how relating only one aspect of a story flattens reality, robs people of dignity, and makes equality impossible. She explains that the narrative created by a single story is not necessarily untrue, but is incomplete. Taking the time to travel around northern Ghana, witnessing the diversity in languages spoken, appearance and customs practiced, provides evidence towards this. Adichie also refers to Chinua Achebe, another Nigeria novelist who calls for a “balance of stories” to round out the full experience of existence rather than leveling out life with a single narrative. Through analyzing the development experience in northern Ghana both within its historical and socio political context and through the lived experiences of people, my understanding will become fuller and more complete.

Adjusting how I conduct my research to more completely fit the context so my findings accurately represent the situation and its people has been invaluable. I have been able to reaffirm hypotheses, while continuing to dismantle certain assumptions is proving to be more responsible research. In analyzing my unique immersion experience in agricultural development I will begin to recognize the context in which I operate while working in the sector. I have to ensure to keep this diversity of stories incorporated in our strategy to develop the agriculture sector.

I feel as if I understand Ghana a bit better. The culture shock has worn off and I find myself independently arguing my way onto a Metromass or tro-tro much more easily, while sifting through markets for the things I need more efficiently.

The inside of a tro-tro / minibus, my main type of transportation, after motorbike

The conversations I am having are a lot more interesting and I am getting this whole notion of greeting and speaking to strangers as it is probably the most critical thing I have picked up on to gain respect and prove appreciation for the communities I stay in. Hitching rides from people you just met, putting in trust and depending on them is critical to the work culture in Ghana – and the only way I can fully accomplish anything here.

My faith in humanity has been restored through the generosity and compassion Ghanaians have for guests. Recently I stayed with the most incredible farmer out west in a place called Gindabou (refer to map). Not only did Pastor John refuse to let me pay for anything during my stay (despite him being a farmer and me a NGO employee) but he also went way out of his way to ensure my safety and comfort: The only bus leaving straight for Tamale was coming from Wa, but because there is only one bus that leaves in the morning, tickets are very difficult to purchase or reserve. So John sent a man from the community to purchase a ticket for me, sit in my seat to save it, and then switch with me when the bus arrived off the main road in the community.

The tro-tro I was traveling on got stuck on the road...I wonder why

When the man could not get a ticket at 6AM the day before, John’s alternate route would be for me to take a minibus to Techima and then switch there for another bus to Tamale. Since I had never been to Techima, he insisted that he accompany me five hours south, help me get on the bus to Tamale and then go all the way back north five hours to Gindabou.

Gindabou - Pastor John and I

Fortunately, as luck was on my side, I was able to hitch the original bus driving by, get the best seat and catch up on sleep the whole rest of the way. Seems like the bread, minerals and soap I brought the family in the village when I arrived, cannot even compare to what he taught me – generosity, compassion, patience and humility.

Community in Gindabou - most entertaining group ever!

My faith in humanity has also been restored from my relationships with EWB colleagues. I am really shocked by how nice and patient EWBers are. It is evident that they have inherited the Ghanaian free, and welcoming culture. It is just impossible for me to explain the help I have had over the past two months and cannot really even compare it to any experience I have had in the past. Not with my own travels, work, or study – it really is the only kind of help you see in from a family.

Kumasi

The type of family that picks you up and drives you when you have a big bag to carry or are out late at night and do not want to walk for three minutes in the dark. The kind of family that brings you tea, food and oral re hydration salts when you are not feeling well, calls you to make sure you have travelled successfully, and argues with you about some difficult strategy we are working towards, pushing your limits of learning. This development sector work we do is inconceivably complicated and we all support each other to make sure we keep our motivation and responsibilities on track.

Nonetheless, I am still having a few difficulties with my life here and it is seemingly stemming from the same source: food. I am not exactly sure what it is that will not allow me to get over the food. It could be the textures, ingredients, overcooking – I just don’t like it. I have tried to eat everything, but just cannot seem to get most of it down.

Cooking over charcoal - breakfast, my favourite meal of the day!

Moreover, roughly every two weeks I have a badly upset stomach caused by something I ate, disrupting my whole metabolism and desiring the food even less. The upset stomach is not because of the content of the food, but as a result of poor sanitation. Traveling a lot also affects my eating habits, so there is no surprise that I have ‘reduced’ by about seven pounds (assuming the scale at the clinic was correct). Considering all the disruptive travel and eating at ‘chop’ shops on the side of the road, I have been very fortunate to not have picked up the common parasites, worms or malaria that many of my colleagues have suffered from since arrival.

Now that I have nearly completed my Immersion Period, the next step is to pick a district to live in for around five months (until February depending). Moving to and working in a place without the comfort of your ‘obruni’ (white) colleagues, attempting to create change and develop relationships is a whole different ball game. I am not sure where I will settle at the moment, but it will likely be somewhere in the Northern Region. Working independently out of a district office, depending on MOFA colleagues and my motorbike to experiment with solutions to the problems I am seeing will probably lead me to the realization of even deeper problems. It is going to be a professionally enriching experience, but also a difficult one. That is when the real development work starts.

Maize Farm with a Contact Farmer

Overall, I am loving Ghana! I would say my favourite thing to do is hop on the back of a farmer’s moto and drive out to his farm, to discuss his techniques, problems and ambitions – they are my ‘Dorothy’s’ of the world.

Picture Tour of Ghana – My experience so far

Damongo

Damongo

Kpandai

Kpandai

Two of the cutest things together in one photo!

Agricultural extension, or agricultural advisory, is increasingly acknowledged as a strong contributor to agricultural development. Reducing poverty and social inequalities, the sustainable use of natural resources, and participatory development, are general objectives to which extension policies can make a contribution. Food security is often a problem for the rural poor, a large proportion of who solely depend on agriculture as a livelihood. By contributing to the improvement of farming and farm yields, agricultural extension can be a very powerful tool for empowerment and support to community livelihoods.

System of extension in agriculture - Image taken NEUCHÂTEL GROUP 2007 Report, Page 4

Why is Agricultural Extension Important for Ghana?

Since it is estimated that about 50.6 per cent of the labour force (4.2 million people) are directly engaged in agriculture, agricultural development is seen as a way to target food security and poverty reduction through the improvement of farm income (FASDEPII, 2007). Agriculture continues to contribute the largest share to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Since 2000, the contribution of agriculture to total GDP has varied between 35.8 per cent and 37 per cent and agricultural growth has increased from about 4 per cent in 2000 to 6 per cent in 2005 (FASDEPII, 2007). The traditional roles of agriculture include provision of food security, supply of raw materials for industry, and creation of employment and generation of foreign exchange earnings (FASDEPII, 2007). Beyond these, agriculture is recognized to have a greater impact on poverty reduction than most other sectors. Other roles include social stabilization, a buffer during economic shocks, support to environmental sustainability, and cultural values associated with farming (FASDEPII, 2007).

However, the slow growth of agriculture specifically for Ghana is due to a combination of factors that reduce farmer incentives to invest and produce, which include lack of technological change and poor basic infrastructure.

Constraints of the sector are classified under:

• Human resource and managerial skills;
• Natural resource management;
• Technology development and dissemination;
• Infrastructure;
• Market access;
• Food insecurity and
• Irrigation development and management (FASDEPII, 2007).

Extension services can contribute to improving the livelihoods of farmers through technology development and dissemination, market access and irrigation development and management that collectively contribute to an increase of farmer income.

Agricultural Extension in Ghana

To increase the impact of extension on agriculture and pro-poor growth in developing countries, public-sector agricultural extension systems are implementing reforms that include demand-driven and decentralized approaches. Such reforms are happening in Ghana as an attempt to increase the accountability of agricultural extension staff to farmers and increase the relevance of extension activities.

Co-worker and an AEA in a maize field

The primary system for extension service delivery is through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) district level. In 1987 MOFA established the Department of Agricultural Extension Services based on a train and visit method of regular training (once a month) and visit schedules where one Agricultural Extension Agent (AEA) would carry messages in all disciplines of agriculture (Management Training Workshop, 2006). Today, each district level has a number of AEAs who are responsible for delivering extension to farmers and others involved in agricultural production.

Extension services are hoping to become more demand driven and proactive in developing business and marketing skills of farmers. The hope is that these services become more pluralistic, flexible and responsible to changing the socio-economic environment of the rural sector, which is more open to new funding mechanisms and private sector participation. Importantly, the system of extension is becoming more decentralised to the District Assemblies.

Key functions of extension – Image taken from the NEUCHÂTEL GROUP 2007 Report, Page 11

Farmer Training is critical for implementation of agriculture extension and is accomplished at the District level through,
• Field and home visits (3-4 per week per AEA)
• Group meetings
• Community campaigns
• Field days and study tours for farmers
• On-farm Trials and demonstrations
• Drama and docu-drama
• Posters and extension leaflets
• Radio and Video (Management Training Workshop, 2006)

Field Visits are also part of agriculture extension and involves,
• Demarcate operational areas (OAs)
• Sketch map of operational areas
• Visiting Schedules
• Individual farm visits
• Village campaigns
• FBO training (Management Training Workshop, 2006),

Data collected in Bongo and Tamale by Engineers Without Borders for the International Food Policy Research Institute concluded that the majority of an AEAs’ time was spent interacting in the field, while measuring and demarcating plots took up 35-68 per cent of their time. AEAs’ were interacting with farmer groups to incorporate the administrative and supervision of inputs in their work 31-26 percent of time, while 30 per cent of an AEAs’ average day worked towards delivering technology advice on line distances or applying fertilizer, as well as monitoring the application for good agriculture practices (IFPRI Research Papers, EWB 2011). Roughly 45-71 per cent of a AEAs’ activities were spent on enabling farmer access to development partners and 38-80 percent of a day meant for enabling access to external assistance and technology advice (IFPRI Research Papers, EWB 2011).

Experiment with video for improved extension with farmers

Since data varies greatly between the two districts, diversity in the dissemination of extension across districts is evident. Some farmers will have greater one-on-one interaction with AEAs, specifically meant for extension and others will depend more readily on their peers for learning. Activity focus is also highly dependent on the season, where the majority of an AEAs’ time could be wrapped in prepping farmers for completion of national level projects or for what the District level Director chooses.

Problems with Agricultural Extension

Inherent difficulties of providing agricultural extension through the public sector include the scale and complexity of agricultural production, dependence on the broader policy environment, weak linkages between the extension and research systems, difficulty in attributing impact, weak accountability, weak political commitment and support, public duties other than knowledge transfer, and the challenge of fiscal sustainability (Davis, 2008).

Me and my Motorcycle - One complaint I often here from AEA's in the field - fuel costs

Solutions to Improve the Lives of Farmers through Extension

Reforms to address these problems are considered innovative in their move away from the top-down methods of public funding and provision of extension services, with its linear process from research to extension to farmers. These reforms include aspects of decentralization, privatization, participatory services, and public–private partnerships resulting in pluralistic extension services that involve the public, private, and civil sectors (Glendenning & Babu, 2011). Even these pluralistic extension services, however, recognize the value of continued involvement of the public sector in roles such as public policy, coordination, regulation of services for quality control; focus on public-good issues, and pro-poor services (Glendenning & Babu, 2011).

Extension should be advisory, not prescriptive. This requires extension workers to be “actors in” not “instruments of” extension. Since farming conditions change at the whim of markets and the weather, to be effective extension must be able to address change. Extension systems must be ultra flexible to respond to new situations (opportunities or crises) (Neuchatel Group, 2007). Trust must be established between the small-scale farmer and the adviser. Solid technical expertise remains essential, but the abilities of extension workers must go beyond that and must be adept in participatory techniques, and resourceful in drawing on a mix of communication methods and technologies (Glendenning & Babu, 2011). AEAs must think in terms of market opportunities, increasing producer incomes and total farm management.

Spent the afternoon harvesting groundnuts (peanuts) with women farmers

Conclusion

All in all, extension services for agricultural development play a critical role in poverty reduction and food security. Extension is meant to directly engage with producers, solving their most critical problems of increasing yields and selling them at market. Increasing the income of producers contributes greatly to the reduction of poverty for a country like Ghana, where the majority of the population rely solely on farming as a livelihood. Although extension in Ghana currently faces many problems, working with the public sector to become more flexible, decentralized and pluralistic will increase the quality of service.

References

Engineers Without Borders. Agricultural Extension in Tamale Metropolitan: Results Report For IFPRI, collected June-July 2011.

Engineers Without Borders. Agricultural Extension in
Bongo District (UER) For IFPRI, collected June-July 2011.

Engineers Without Borders. Mofa Extension Policy Powerpoint presented for the Management Training Workshop August 2006 in Kumasi.

Davis, Kristin E. Extension in Sub-Saharan Africa: Overview and Assessment of Past and Current Models, and Future Prospects. International Food Policy Research Institute. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Volume 15, Number 3, Fall 2008.

Glendenning, Claire J., & Suresh C. Babu. The case of the district level agriculture technology management agency. IFPRI Eastern and Sourthern Africa Regional Office, Paper 0167. February 2011.

Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Republic of Ghana. Food and Agriculture Sector Development Policy (FASDEPII). August 2007.

Neuchatel Group. Common Framework on Agricultural Extension. October 2007.

Ghana Landscape - Location is Kpandae

It is 6:00AM and Lansa, my host mother, wakes me unintentionally to begin her morning prayers. I wake up in the dark because there is no electricity in the village and no windows in the gravel and straw hut where I sleep. I adjust my hips carefully as the sheet beneath has moved during the night leaving my back on the ground exposed. I turn on my headlamp, see the granddaughter soundly asleep and think to myself, today I will spend my birthday in a rural northern Ghanaian village. I continue to lie there, but am eventually distracted by the cool morning breeze on my moist skin. Lansa has opened the door to begin her morning preparations: sweeping, heating bath water and cooking breakfast. I awake, wrap my clothe around me, stretch and walk outside to greet her. She hands me a quarter bucket of hot water, I grab my soap and toothbrush & paste and step into the bathing area to enjoy the warm water and cool air on my skin. Taking a bucket shower is my favourite and I do not mind living without running water. I then dress and greet the landlord who lives across the compound in another hut. I return and am brought my favourite meal of the day, a big thermos of milo (hot chocolate) and half a stick of what looks like French bread. By this time I am greeted by several children and am joined by John, one of the men in the village who speaks English. We chat for a bit and I realize how much effort he has put into my stay. Ghanaians believe that no one should ever be alone and because I do not speak the language, he sits with me virtually at all times of day. We then go around greeting the chiefs and sub-chiefs to say goodbye as this is my final day in the village. I am served way too much food before the women in the community come to say farewell. They hand me my departing, birthday gift: half a bag of African yams and eight guinea fowl eggs. I then strap my things to the back of the moto and ride to the city where I will spend the rest of my birthday with other EWB volunteers.

A few people have asked me what has been the most shocking thing you have experienced in the village. This is a tough question because I do not have the answer people are expecting. Living without running water, electricity or a latrine is not too uncomfortable; it is just more time consuming. Although people are poor, I did not perceive them this way. Despite images of children sleeping on the ground all dirty, with flies everywhere and the women fetching water and pounding maize, there is a lot of laughter and good conversation. People are managing, but they are happy. I am not shocked by the farm animals running around or cooking every meal outside with charcoal, and sleeping on the ground, but embrace it.

One thing I was particularly shocked by was the responsibility children are expected to take. I anticipated that women do a lot of work, and know that the majority of men are farmers, but had no idea that the hardest working people are the little girls (at least in this community). Children taking care of children shocked every cultural norm I have ever been exposed to. In Canada children are on strict routines, with strict diets and strict confinements to where they can or cannot go and what they can or cannot do. The children in this village had no one specifically watching them except each other. The granddaughter who slept in my hut constantly had a toddler strapped to her back because it was her responsibility as her older sister (age 7 maybe). She fed her, bathed her, gave her medicine and even made sure she was pooping properly. I think raising a child is one of the greatest responsibilities, and little girls are doing it, along with sweeping, fetching water and cooking.

Another thing that took time to get used to was the initial marriage proposals. Every man in the village asked me to pick him as a husband (at least I had a choice right?). In this culture, random proposals are a joke (funny humour), but having a ‘husband’ really helps you diffuse the situation, along with joking back. When I was asked to give one man 15 children I replied with, “What you don’t want 20? You aim too small!” and we had a good laugh. However, it is still annoying to have a 20 minute conversation diffusing a marriage proposal situation.

The last thing that shocked me was how little people knew about what was outside the northern region in Ghana. I discovered this when explaining Canadian farming and landscape – what snow is. Of course they would not know what snow is, this is Africa! But people did not even know about their own country’s history. Outside of colonialism there is little to no knowledge about the slave trade, and even the geography of West Africa. Technically, I know more about the continent than they do. People were also under the impression that all white people speak English and that all black people come from Africa. So when trying to explain that there are black people in Canada who are Canadian they would simply ask how? They were not aware of countries like those in the Caribbean, which are comprised of a majority of black people.

Based on conversations, I made the assumption that this lack of awareness of other cultures, language and knowledge of basic geography was a fault of the education system. The people I was speaking to about this completed senior high school and they are still not aware of these things. Later my assumption was somewhat confirmed when I was told that all the students in the local high schools failed this year’s exams, which are designed by the national level school board, miles away.

Overall, Ghanaians are extremely friendly and the village is very safe. Since people really want you to have a good impression of their community they try really hard to provide a welcoming and pleasant stay. Although I was bored sometimes because of language barriers, I learned a lot. I was able to ask many difficult questions about the women’s rice processing group and business plan, as well as cultural norms. I was able to attend meetings, visit the grinding mill and help the group sell rice in the market. They took me to the farm to show me their good agricultural practices and I was proud to see such hard working, smart people who are working with what they know.

Maybe in the near future I will choose to live for a longer period in the village. Decision makers and development projects are not usually familiar with village realities, despite them working towards improving life in the village. That is why I am proud to be working for an organization like EWB who is respected in the field as an organization that understands the realities of the rural areas (as we choose to work with district level government when no one else will). We take this knowledge and influence upper levels of decision making so it is more focused to change the lives of the people they are trying to help.

Tamale is about 433.15 km away from Accra and a 13+ hour drive north due to road conditions. It is as crowded and loud as the capital city, with a bustling marketplace and tro-tro (mini-bus) station, but with twice as many animals roaming free.  Thankfully, there are walkways next to the open sewers by the road so people can more safely get around. It is amazing how much more is learned when looking up and paying attention, as opposed to staring at the ground, carefully watching your step. The main road is Bolga road and it runs straight through, directing you anywhere in and out of the city. Instead of intimidating tro-tros, shared taxis are used to travel short distances. Men drive along the road picking up anyone who needs a ride until the car is full, only costing 50 pesuas per person (about 40 cents). Affordable, efficient and safer transportation, shared taxis are there within minutes and often result in interesting conversations with total strangers. People live away from the main road in compounds and take shared taxis, a personal bicycle or motto to work.

The main language spoken is called Dagbani and fewer people speak English here than in the capital city. I have picked up the greetings fairly quickly considering they are more elaborate than other languages I have been exposed to. There are several ways to greet someone depending on the time of day:

Good morning, how are you = Desba
Good afternoon, how are you = Antere
Good evening, how are you = Anula
Responses to these = naaaaaa

Another common greeting I have learnt is:
How was your sleep?: Agbirre?
Response: Gombienne

I am not really sure how to say goodbye, but people are always exclaiming Ami ami ami which is amen, and thanks to be God, after our conversations.

Since the majority of northerners are Muslim the lifestyle, clothing and culture is different than the south, despite people being just as friendly, loud, and free. August has been the month of Ramadan, an important Muslim practice where people fast from sun up to sun down (no water, food practiced during daylight). Fewer shops are open, making it more difficult to find anyone cooking food for lunch and people really take the time to rest or pray in the afternoon, even if it is in the middle of a bustling, muddy marketplace. Differently than in Toronto, people speak freely about fasting without the usual negative sentiments that normally accompany it. There are no exclamations of breaking fast or scowls when I drink my water and eat lunch. People acknowledge and embrace the fact that Christians do not fast. The man making my Egg and Bread for breakfast is fasting, while the staff at the office pass me water. Christians and Muslims live in agreement here, often celebrating both religious holidays and ceremonies. Every meeting opens with and closes with prayer either from the Muslim or Christian faith depending on who is leading. No one feels the need for two prayers from each faith and instead switches from time to time without argument. No animosity, discrimination or pretentiousness, religion is important and God is God – no matter how you choose to worship.

I have begun the learning for my job and enjoying it way more than I thought was possible. Monday I had a coaching session with MoFA team lead Erin, scheduling a plan for the week and next month. This past week I spent job shadowing a short term EWB volunteer / JF named Tania Sanchez who has been working at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) Tamale Metro office on the Agriculture as a Business program. Working with her has been useful because our personalities, values and learning styles are well-suited. I could make the claim that the office has welcomed me more than any other office has, making me feel more comfortable in five days than I usually do at two months in any Toronto office. The office is shaped in a square with an outside garden in the middle and individual offices along the insides. A few staff members have taken the time to get to know me and direct me around the normative practices, such as locking your office door even just to use the bathroom. I am in Tania’s office with my own desk and a big ceiling fan.

View from my desk at the office looking out onto the garden. Across is a group of farmers being trained on how to use a type of fertilizer

Although everyday is slightly different, waking up at 6:30AM, doing laundry, packing my bag, and taking a 10 minute shared taxi ride to meet Tania for breakfast has been fairly standard. I then spend the day at the office, going out for lunch, picking up errands from the market and heading back to the office to work until 6pm. By the time I get back to the guesthouse, eat dinner, and shower I am so tired that I look forward to starting a good night’s rest at 9:00PM.

I have also had the opportunity to go into the field with two exceptional agricultural extension agents (AEAs). Tahiru is a 58 year old Ghanaian man who has been working as an AEA with MoFA for over 30 years. He drives a 12 year old moto and knows his community more than any other AEAS. Going into the field with him was the perfect experience. We met with the leader of a women’s rice processing group that has successfully paid back all their loans. We were meeting to schedule a session to better understand why they were so successful and what about Tahiru’s services were working. Most AEAs would not have taken the time to coordinate specifics, like who would be invited to speak, prepping the leader on what information needed to be discussed for a normal meeting without any guests. This was my first time going into the field and I will never forget it! Riding on the back of a moto, watching through my helmet everyone smile and wave from their compounds (a circle of round huts) as we wiz by this beautiful grassland… It reminded me a lot of the Canadian landscape, except without all the pine trees. It hit me more that I was actually in Ghana / Africa, since rural living reflects more the vision I had. A few days later I went into the field with an AEA named Zibrilla to do a fertilizer demonstration for growing maize. Working with the farmers on three week old plants, meeting the chief of Wamale and seeing people process the maize was incredible and a nice aside from all the reading I have been doing about the Ministry’s extension services and farmer technology adoption rates.

Despite this, I feel I have spent a lot of time with Westerners. Going out for dinner with EWB volunteers, playing Frisbee with expats and chatting at the guesthouse with white people has been part of the easing into working in Ghana process. Next week I leave for a huge team meeting in Kumasi (6 hour drive south) where the short term volunteers conduct their final presentations and begin their journey back to Canada. I then come back to Tamale to possibly coordinate a village stay – no electricity, no running water and defiantly no white people.

It still has not hit me that I am here, in Africa and working in development. Chatting with the women who made my dress, working with the farmers in the field and discussing policy issues with directors is all too surreal. Development is way more interesting when you see the problems and solutions reflected in the eyes of the individuals you interact with everyday. I often forget that I am rich here – when beggars on the street come up to me for money, I instinctively shy away, and then remember they are just asking for 10 cents. I am not yet as jaded about government as my counterparts and recognize that although we would like to avoid government to develop a country’s economy, they are not going anywhere. In the end, Ghana really is not that different from any other country. People are people, work is work and government is government.

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