Sack gardening technology showcased by farmers at the farmer’s day durbar

“Ayeekoo to our gallant farmers” is a slogan mainly used in Ghana to congratulate all the hardworking farmers nationwide for their dedication and service towards ensuring food security in Ghana. The Government of Ghana dedicates the first Friday in December to celebrate farmers yearly. Celebrations are usually held across every district, municipality and metropolis in Ghana.

The 38^th farmer’s day celebration was themed “Accelerating Agriculture Development through Value Addition”. Value chain actors, including farmers, meet at various durbar grounds to display their produce and technologies, network and share knowledge.

Farmers trained on sack gardening technology by the World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg: https://avrdc.org/) under the One CGIAR Regional Integrated Initiative entitled ‘Transforming Agrifood Systems in West and Central Africa (TAFS-WCA) at Akumadan participated in the district level farmer’s day durbar which was held in Tanokwaem in the Offinso North District.

Trained farmers’ first intention was to display harvest from the technology at the durbar, but then the decision to exhibit the technology for better appreciation popped up.

Interestingly, cucumber and lettuce grown in sacks (not harvested) carried to the durbar grounds for exhibition received lots of attention. Congratulatory messages from the Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development went to farmers.

During and after the durbar, farmers disseminated knowledge on sack gardening technology to other farmer groups. Vegetables (lettuce and cucumber) harvested were shared amongst farmers, government officials and other dignitaries who were present at the celebration grounds.

Our community, Asuoso, has gained more popularity just at the exhibition of this technology. We can now consider ourselves masters of this technology, capable of replicating it in our various homes with little or no support from the World Vegetable Center.

‘’Asuoso community, the home of sack gardening technology,” will always be our bragging slogan declared by farmers.

Acknowledgement was given to the World Vegetable Center for technical support regarding the technology.