Agriculture
The camp’s soccer field was destroyed in a road-widening project in front of the camp. Point Hope bought a piece of land (almost 5 acres) to replace the soccer pitch, but discovered that during the rainy season it turned into a flooded mud hole. So it didn’t work for soccer, but what better place to plant a garden and teach skills training to people who through the war and subsequent necessary transient lives never had the opportunity to settle down and grow their own food?
Around the same time, a well was also drilled on the land, but its water was deemed undrinkable. Solution? Use the water for irrigating the crops and stock it with fish to start a viable fish pond.
Although at first the water was fetched in buckets and applied by hand to the crops, Point Hope has since built a small water tower on the property. The farmers now pump the water out of the pond, into the tank and use a gravity-feed system to send the water through the irrigation pipes and out to the crops.The fish have since been joined by clams (although it is a mystery how they arrived, so Point Hope just calls them ‘Miracle Clams’) and the two brothers who stay on the property as overseers have enough to feed themselves and their families.
In January 2010, PointHope Ghana hired Mr. Emmanuel Osabutye as the Project Officer for the Agriculture Skills training.
Emmanuel is knowledgeable and enthusiastic.The following projects are on the schedule for him to instruct and aid in implementation. The students presently in the class are the parents of malnourished children. They are learning to grow crops for income and are able to provide food for themselves and their children at the same time.
FOOD SECURITY & ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT PROJECT:
Crop Program
- Vegetable: grown for personal consumption and for selling at market, the Point Hope field presently grows a variety of produce: cassava (a large, starch-filled root ground, pounded to make fufu, a staple carbohydrate in West Africa)., eggplant, yam, tomato, potato, watermelons, lettuce, cabbage, peppers and more
- Maize: (in the U.S. commonly called corn) grown for human consumption and also to be used as feed for livestock and poultry.
- Cowpea: (in U.S. commonly called black-eyed pea) is one of the most ancient crops known to man. Its origin and subsequent domestication is associated with pearl millet and sorghum in Africa. It is now a broadly adapted and highly variable crop, cultivated around the world primarily for seed, but also as a vegetable (for leafy greens, green pods, fresh shelled green peas, and shelled dried peas), a cover crop and for fodder. Cowpea is considered more tolerant to drought than soybeans and better adapted to sandy soils.
- Mushrooms: sold at market, very sustainable crop in small amount of space
- Snails: delicacy; sold at market, very sustainable crop in small amount of space
Additionally, Point Hope’s agricultural program is being developed to also give skills training in livestock and poultry. The parents of malnourished children are ready to be trained regarding raising poultry for cooking and egg production.
We already have a poultry house built that will house approximately 500 chickens, with a section for incubation and chick care.
ANIMALS PROGRAM (Planned for 2010-2011):
- Poultry: chickens for egg laying and for meat
- Pigs: for breeding and for eating
If you are interested in supporting the agriculture program, you can buy seeds, pay for a farmer’s training, or even share your knowledge: go to Ghana and work with Emmanuel and the farmers-in-training!
