By Philip Tengzu
Samoa, (UW/R), July 12, GNA – Madam Ayishatu Abdulai, a 45-year-old smallholder farmer at Samoa, a community in the Lambussie District, says she is relieved of the ordeal she used to go through in farming following her acquisition of a manual hand-held push planter.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Samoa, Madam Abdulai, who cultivated soybeans and groundnuts among other crops, said she used to hire labour to plant her field, which cost her at least GHȻ200.00.
She also had petty quarrels and misunderstandings with her husband because she got exhausted after the laborious work of bending to sow her five to six acre-field and its accompanying waist and chest pains, which rendered her incapacitated to satisfy the emotional needs of her husband.
Madam Abdulai, however, said with the push planter she could plant at least two acres of field a day without much stress, which saved her from spending money to hire labour and she could also satisfy her husband and bring peace to her family.
The German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), through the MOAP programme, a component of the European Union (EU) Ghana Agricultural Programme (EU GAP), supported smallholder women farmers in the project communities to acquire the push planters through a cost-shared approach.
Under the initiative, the farmers paid 30 per cent of the equipment’s cost while the project paid 70 per cent to enhance their agricultural activities for increased productivity without stress.
The equipment significantly enhanced planting efficiency and precision, allowed for uniform plant spacing and ensured consistent planting depth, which was critical for crop growth and yield with 871 smallholder farmers (88 per cent women) benefiting from it.
Madam Abdulai said she acquired the planter with the support of the MOAP project in 2023 and it has since been instrumental in enhancing her farming activities.
“It (the planter) is very fast and reliable. I took money from the VSLA to pay for it. I paid part of it and MOAP also paid part of the cost.
I am very grateful to GIZ MOAP for bringing this intervention. It has come to help many women in this community,” she explained.
She encouraged other women farmers to acquire that planter to reduce the burden of their farm work on them and to increase their crop production.
The Tibourataa Women Group in Wa, through the EU GAP, established the Neem Seed Processing Factory, which produced the region’s first-ever bio-pesticide from neem seeds, the “Neem Crop Protector”.
The factory, located in Wa, was certified by the Environmental Protection Agency, to produce Neem Seed Oil, Neem Cake Powder, and Neem Husk Mulch, which were available nationwide in agro-input shops.
The initiative was to promote the use of ecologically friendly bio-pesticides for effective pest control and long-term agricultural sustainability.
Madam Abdulai told the GNA that the Neem Crop Protector was affordable compared to the inorganic agrochemicals and that had also helped reduce her cost of production.
Madam Habiba Hayese Guo, a farmer at Suke, said she took a loan from her VSLA to procure the planter and paid GH¢600.00 while the project paid the remaining cost.
“With the planter, I can sow about three acres a day but without it I hire labour to do that not even in a day.
If I am to plant those three acres alone by hand, it will take me more than a week to finish it,” Madam Guo explained.
Mr Kaamil Shakiru Tigwii, an input dealer at Samoa, observed that the Neem Crop Protector was a game changer within the farming sector.
“With the kind of insecticide that we have within the market, they are very poisonous in the long-term to our body system, but the Neem Crop Protector has no side effects on people, either during spraying or when consumed,” he explained.
GNA