The Ambassador of the European Union (EU) to Ghana, Irchad Razaaly, concluded a two-day visit to the Upper West Region, where he witnessed the progress achieved under the European Union Ghana Agriculture Programme (EUGAP).
The visit underlines the EU’s support to the Government of Ghana in fostering sustainable livelihoods.
During the visit, Ambassador Razaaly engaged with local communities and observed two projects that exemplify Ghana’s and the EU’s shared vision of sustainable agricultural development in the country.
In Wa, the Ambassador met with the Tibourataa Women Group, producers of the “Neem Crop Protector’’. This is a purely biological agent for effective pest control. The Crop Protector and its by-products (Neem Seed Oil, Neem Cake Powder, and Neem Husk Mulch) are manufactured in Wa at the Neem Seed Processing Factory, providing permanent employment for 12 women and income for additional 580 women farmers supplying neem seed to the factory. The neem products are commercially available for farmers nationwide, as they are stocked by agro-input shops.
The Neem Crop Protector is applied by the Tibourataa Women Group themselves for the cultivation of vegetable in their own greenhouse. The production of these vegetables demonstrates the commercial viability of environmentally friendly farming methods and fosters economic empowerment among women.
His second visit was to the Sunmabo Farmer Group in Dandafuro of Wa Municipality, where climate-resilient agriculture is practiced.
Through the establishment of a demonstration plot for Conservation Agriculture (CA), the community has learned farming techniques that preserve the soil and environment and diversify their production by growing cashew trees in addition to their crops.
With these strategies the farms are protected against extreme weather. Cashew trees are well adapted to the climate in north-western Ghana and therefore provide a climate resilient source of income for smallholder farmers. The EU supported the distribution of 300,000 cashew seedlings to communities.
To ensure that the community can continue to apply what they have learned and to enable the women make independent economic decisions such as buying farming equipment and quality seeds, the EU supported establishing Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs). These collective saving schemes give women reliable access to finance for agriculture and other resilience-building activities. The inclusion and support of women-led agribusinesses and women’s participation in agribusiness decision-making is of high importance to the EU. VSLAs in north-western Ghana enable 26,000 women access to finance.
These projects, which the EU is funding its implementation together with German development cooperation, exemplify how community-led initiatives and innovative agricultural practices can drive positive change, improve livelihoods, and build more resilient local economies.
Through the successes of initiatives like the Tibourataa Women Group and the Sunmabo Farmer Group, the EU and its partners aim to cultivate stronger, more resilient agricultural sectors, while safeguarding the planet for future generations.
These interventions are being implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) in north-western Ghana on behalf of the European Union (EU) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
