SECOND QUARTER REPORT ON ORGANIC SCHOOL GARDEN (OSG)

Ivy Osei-Sampah
July 2008

INTRODUCTION

The second quarter of the Organic School Garden Project (OSGP) is for the period of
April to June 2008. Activities undertaken during this quarter are mainly weekly Farmer
Field School (FFS), and training in organic principles and practices.

GOAN management team also made a lot of visits to the project sites, and the schools
involved in the OSGP. The school children in the various schools have been visiting the
gardens and have been exposed to organic agriculture practices and as a result some
Agriculture Science teachers in some of the schools have established small plots as
garden for practical work and tuition for the Junior High School pupils. In the Darbaa
School, the Agricultural Science Tutor has established another plot for the Junior High
School; they have their Agriculture Science Practicals on every Friday. Meeting periods
of the rest of the FFS are; Barekuma-Tuesday, Adupri-Wednesday, Asouwim-Thursday,
Aboree- Tuesday and Ankobra-Thursday

Some pictures of pupils working in a school garden

This first phase of the project has experienced a lot of progress with some few problems.
Some of the nurseries failed due to bad condition of the soil in the area. The nursery in
Ankobra for instance had to be established again with an intense application of manure,
the site of the school garden was also relocated.

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Below is the summary of FFS state:

# FFS (Town / % of Vegetable for Status of Remarks

Village) attendance training Crop
1 Darbaa 80 - 90 Cabbage and Vegetative Good
Tomatoes stage performance
2 Barekuma 85 -100 Cabbage and French Flowering Good
Beans stage performance
3 Asouwin 75 - 90 Cabbage and Vegetative Good
Tomatoes stage performance
4 Adupri 85 - 100 Cabbage and Vegetative Good
Tomatoes stage performance
5 Aboree 80 - 97 Cabbage and French Vegetative Good
beans stage performance
6 Ankobra 82 - 90 Cabbage and Vegetative Delayed
Tomatoes stage very poor
soil, site
relocated,
good
performance

FARMER FIELD SCHOOL (FFS) ACTIVITIES:

Farmer field school activities have been on going in all the communities selected. The
ministry of food and agriculture extension staff, provides regular routine visits to all the
gardens and also ensure that the crops are well irrigated.

Farmers gather weekly on the garden for practical training, each of the schools have
different periods of practical training. During training periods farmers are provided with
meals and snacks in order to achieve a full focus and getting enough time of the farmers.

Topics discussed are: soil nutrient management, compost making, inter-cropping (crop
compensation), neem preparation, introduction to AESA (Agro- Ecological system
Analysis) and demonstration of how diseases are spread on the field.

Soil Nutrient Management

This is the demonstration of plant or vegetable responsiveness to the application of
poultry manure, compost as compared to inorganic fertilizer application.

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Compost Making
The field officers conducted practical training on compost making. Using the pit and
heap method, farmers have constructed a compost pit on the farm where smaller volumes
of compost are prepared. The heap method is very suitable during the wet season as
compared to the pit method during the dry season. FFS participants have started adapting
most of the practical training on their farms. Some farmers now have compost pits on
their farms.

Crop Compensation

Some of the crops have been intercropped with garlic, onion, cowpea and chilli pepper.
Farmers have been trained and taught that intercropping is used to;
i. Reduce labour cost,
ii. Control Pest and Diseases
iii. Efficiently utilize land
iv. Increase productivity per unit area
v. Minimize risk of total crop use
vi. Increase soil nutrient level

Biological Pesticides

There has been practical demonstration on the preparation and spraying of neem leaf and
neem seed extracts as biological pesticide. Farmers have also been taken through a
practical demonstration of how diseases spread.

Pounding neem leaves Pounding neem seed kernels Using both to control insects

MAINSTREAMING HIV/ AIDS

The project leader of the organic school garden project was given HIV/AIDS awareness
training in the Netherlands during the commencement of the project. Different modules
of mainstreaming HIV/AIDS in the organic school garden project have been developed.
A simplified approach for the understanding of prevention and abstinence strategies has
been designed to create the general awareness among the FFS participants of the
pandemic. Avoidance of pesticides usage, which can be devastating for affected persons
due to weakening immune systems, has also been designed. The importance of eating
healthy food more especially vegetables have been developed and more importantly
using organic agriculture to increase household income will mitigate any cash flow
difficulties during periods of infection. Training activities will commence during the last
stage of the cropping cycle of each FFS.

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MARKET LINKAGES

Marketing of agricultural produce on the domestic market has always been very
challenging. A couple of hospitality players have been contact to provide ready markets
for the FFS participants who will be going into full-scale production. Because it takes a
long period to secure a lasting marketing relationship, those hospitality players contacted
will be given samples of produce harvested from the gardens to try before farmers
produce and supplied to these players.

PUPIL INTERVIEWED FOR RECIPE AND NEWS LETTER

Interview was conducted at the Darbaa primary school where a pupil in class six was
interviewed about the organic school garden and how the pupil spends her weekend. The
detailed interviewed will be published in the newsletter yet to be released. One response
from the pupil was that they are aware of the school garden and have been using the
garden for practicals, however, the pupil does not know and has not heard of organic
agriculture. This revelation call for the possibility of initiating discussion for schools to
emphasis on organic agriculture practices during schools practical in agriculture.

ESTABLISHING ORGANIC SCHOOL GARDENS IN NORTHERN GHANA

As part of the implementation plan, four additional organic school gardens will be
established in the northern sector of the country. Two schools will be located in the
Tolon-Kumbungo in the Northern region of Ghana and two more will located in the
Bongo district in the Upper East region of Ghana

CONCLUSION

The Organic School Garden Project has generated a lot of interest among farmers in the
entire communities and their surroundings. Other schools in the various districts have
also expressed their interest to participate in the project.

Open days and cross visits will be organized in the next quarter, so other farmers who did
not have the opportunity of participating in the Farmer Field School, will have the
opportunity to learn about organic agricultural practices etc.