Promoting Sustainable Urban Livelihoods Through Sustainable Urban Agriculture. Case Study: Dzorwulu- Ghana

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Prootng Sustanale Uran Leloods Troug Sustanale Uran Agrculture Case Stud: Dorulu, Gana

ESD Feld Trp Report 2009 ESD Feld Trp Report

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A Student Report by:

Laura Beckwith Kuldeep Chaware Federika Coll Lizzie Cowan Bahia Egeh Karimi Gitonga Augustin Guilbert-Billetdoux Soa Musi Diana Salazar Alexandra Valerio Tina Ziegler

June 2009

UCL Development Planning Unit 34 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9EZ, United Kingdom Tel: T el: +44 (0)20 7679 1111 Fax:+44 (0)20 7679 1112 [email protected] www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu

ESD Feld Trp Report 2009

CONTENTS Abbreviations

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Executive Summary

2

Acknowledgements

4

Research Objectives

5

Denition and Criteria

6

Methodology

7

Limitations

8

Theoreti cal Framework Theoretical

Site History

11

Current Situation

13

Hypothesis 1

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Strategy 1: Community Led Composting

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Hypothesis 2

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Strategy 2: Vegetable Vegetable Box Pilot Project

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Hypothesis 3

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Strategy 3: Knowledge Sharing Networks or Partcipatory Research

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Hypothesis 4

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Conclusions

34

Recommendations

37

Reerences

38

Appendix A: Monitoring and Impact Assessment

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Appendix B: Methodology Schedule

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Appendix C: Limitations

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Appendix D: Webs o Institutionalization

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Appendix E: Focus Group Transcripts Transcripts

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Appendix F: Transect Transect Walk Report

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Appendix G: Questionnaires

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Appendix H: Interview Transcripts Transcripts

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AbbREviATiONS

AWGUPA AWGUPA

Accra Working Group on Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture

DANIDA

Danish International Development Agency

DPU

Development Planning Unit

FDB

Food and Drug Board

FSTT FST T

From Seed To Table

GWCL

Ghana Water Commission Ltd

IPM

Integral Pest Management

IWMI

International Water Management Institute

MoFA

Ministry Minist ry o Food and Agriculture Agricultu re

NGO

Non-governmental Organization

RUAF RUAF

Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security

SUA

Sustainable Urban Agriculture

SUL

Sustainable Urban Livelihoods

VRA

Volta River Authority

WMD

Waste Management Department


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ExECUTivE SUmmARy

The aim o this research project was to understand and analyze the practice o urban agriculture in Dzorwulu as well as the broader institutional context in Accra. I properly supported, urban arming has the potential to make a signicant contribution to urban sustainability and ood security. Besides providing income and employment, urban agricultural sites such as Dzorwulu preserve green spaces which are habitats or birds, animals and insects, help to manage water and waste as well as reduce the need or transportation and storage o vegetables allowing consumers to access nutritious ood quickly and easily.

Meeting o Dzorwulu Farmers’ Association

With the goal o making recommendations or strategic interventions, the research team identied existing strengths and opportunities to build on, in order to help the armers move towards sustainable urban agriculture (SUA). In order to achieve this goal, a set o criteria was developed by the research team, which represented the ideals o sustainable urban agriculture. These were based on the our pillars o sustainability: economic, social, environmental and political. Through Through a review o secondary literature as well as a two-week visit to Accra to interview armers and other relevant institutional stakeholders, the 11-member team evaluated the reality o the Dzorwulu site based on the SUA criteria to determine to what extent practices and procedures procedures are currently sustainable. The ollowing report report details the research ndings and goes on to suggest a number o ways current practices at the Dzorwulu site can be made more sustainable. The research research used the Sustainable Urban Livelihoods Framework Framework to acilitate the analysis. This ramework sees poverty as a situation o insecurity not as a lack o material wealth and shows how the urban poor use a wide variety o assets (nancial, social, human, natural, physical and political) to decrease their vulnerability. vulnerability. As such, in the ramework and in the proposed interventions, the armers themselves are not passive recipients but key actors.


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The three proposed strategies strategies use the assets that already exist on the Dzorwulu site and build on them to address some o the challenges currently being aced. The strategies are:

1.

Community Composting

This project would see waste collected rom neighbouring communities communities being used as an input on the Dzorwulu site. Providing compost to the armers at a low price would solve the problems they are currently experiencing due to the increasing cost and diculty in acquiring poultry manure as well as the depletion o the soil which is resulting rom the overuse o chemical ertilizers. It would also contribute to a reduction in the amount o uncollected waste thereby improving the health and sanitation conditions o the low-income neighbourhoods in the area.

2.

Vegetable Box Pilot Project

This project would help armers sell their produce directly to high-income consumers thereby increasing their income. Consumers would be encouraged to participate in this delivery program because armers would receive a certication that their vegetables are produced saely thus they could be assured o receiving healthy, healthy, high-quality ood.

3. Knowledge Sharing Networks o Participatory Participa tory Research This strategy relates directly to the need or improved knowledge sharing between armers and institutions in order to study and promote techniques such as increasing biodiversity. biodiversity. It builds on preexisting relationships between between the armers and research bodies such as IWMI and the University o Ghana but emphasises the role o the armer in producing and transmitting k nowledge as well as ocusing on sustainable practices. By implementing these three strategies, armers will be able to increase their level o security and make their practices more sustainable. This will be positive not only or the individual armers but also or the whole city o Accra, which benets in many ways rom the practice o urban agriculture.


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ACkNOwLEDGEmENTS

This work would not have been possible without the support o numerous individuals and organizations. First and oremost, we are indebted to IWMI, our partners and hosts, who did so much or us in terms o logistical support as well as providing insight and guidance. A special thank you is also extended to Sowah, our very capable acilitator and translator. Similarly, Similarly, the sta at the DPU were invaluable in providing academic advice and o course, the organization o the eld work. Furthermore, we are grateul to all o the many representatives representatives o institutions in Accra who gave their time and energy to contribute to this t his research. Without these perspectives our ndings would have been limited and much less relevant. Last but not least, we thank the t he Dzorwulu armers who welcomed us onto their site and taught us many things, not only about urban agriculture but also about becoming development development practitioners.


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RESEARCh ObjECTivES

The research team was given the task o assessing the current practices o urban agriculture in the Dzorwulu area o Accra, Ghana and recommending strategic interventions that could help the armers make a transition to “sustainable “sustainable urban agriculture” (See Denition and Criteria on page 6). In order to eectively complete this assignment, the team understood their primary objective to be the ollowing: Support Sustainable Urban Livelihoods through promoting and enhancing Sustainable Urban Agriculture in Dzorwulu and Accra by recommending appropriate strategic interventions To do this, ve objectives were dened to guide the research. The objectives, listed below, provided the structure by which the inormation in the ollowing report was collected and analysed.

1.

Understand the context and current urban agriculture practices in Dzorwulu

2.

Identiy key stakeholders in the area, their internal and external relationships and to what degree they benet rom and participate in urban agriculture in Dzorwulu

3.

Analyse the actual and perceived threats, threats, opportunities, resources and interests o key stakeholders in relation to the uture o urban agriculture practices in the area

4.

Identiy strategic interventions and recommendations recommendations in the management o land, water, water, solid and liquid waste in order to promote sustainable urban agriculture

5.

Analyse the methods o implementation implementation and possible implications o the proposed interventions to prioritise those which are most appropriate to the study site


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DEFiNiTiON AND CRiTERiA

The research team aimed to suggest interventions inter ventions to use and expand the armers’ assets to help them transition to sustainable urban agriculture. For the purposes o this research, sustainable urban agriculture was dened as: Farming (crop cultivation, animal rearing, sh arming, etc.) within urban and peri-urban areas based on equal consideration o our pillars o sustainability (environmental, (environmental, economic, political and social), which is appropriate to the local context and guarantees urban ood security in the long-term. The ollowing criteria, based on the our pillars, were identied identied and used to assess the t he existing situation in Dzorwulu as well as the proposed strategies:

Environmental

Economic

Closed loop system (recycling and reusing)

Generates long term employment

Organic (no chemical ertilizers, pesticides or GMOs)

Provides sucient and stable income to meet basic needs

Biodiversity o crops to Secures sources o ensure resilience nancial support and access to credit Appropriate management o water, waste and soil

Political Legal ramework and resources provided to promote sustainable urban agriculture Urban agriculture should be mainstreamed into all the relevant bodies directly or indirectly involved Multi-stakeholder approach

Social Food is equitably distributed so no-one has hunger A socially inclusive activity Promoting networks or knowledge sharing, emphasising local knowledge Low input o labour Fair labour relations

Strengthens the democratic process o decision making both amongst the armers and with external stakeholders

Improves the quality o nutrition Minimizes health risks

Fair political voice in the decisions aecting their livelihoods and UA


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mEThODOLOGy

The research was undertaken in two phases: Pre-eld Visit which consisted mainly o an analysis o secondary data and a two-week Field Visit Visit to Accra, where the team met directly with the armers and other relevant stakeholders.

Pre-eld Visit: During the rst phase a systematic review o secondary data to determine a diagnosis o the current situation and context was carried out. It was ollowed by causal and context analyses in order to construct hypotheses in accordance with the Research Objectives. Several tools were used, such as:

Relational Analysis

• Fishbone analysis: to dene sustainable urban agriculture • Stakeholder analysis and mapping: to identiy actors and understand their relationships. • Web o institutionalisation (main analysis tool): to identiy opportunities and constraints, and entry points or the design o strategic interventions.

Field visit:

Fishbone Analysis

Ater developing a preliminary diagnosis o the current situation at Dzorwulu, a series o tools were chosen in order to collect the necessary data. Semi-structured interviews and ocus groups were conducted with armers while question and answer sessions were the primary orm o engaging institutional stakeholders. Table Table 1 on page 8 details the tools used. A more detailed list o the methods and instruments used or the study are presented in Appendix B.


Stakeholder Analysis

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LimiTATiONS Table 1: Fieldtrip Methodology Semi-structured interviews 36 Focus groups 6 Meetings with relevant stakeholders: presentation and Q&A Transect walk Participatory mapping Direct observation Participatory observation

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Limitations The main limitation o the research was the short time spent in the eld in Accra. Although it is impossible to understand the complexities o relationships in only two weeks, the team has attempted to conrm as much as possible their ndings through secondary literature and by soliciting eedback rom individuals and institutions wellversed in the intricacies o the Dzorwulu site. Despite this shortcoming, it is hoped that this work will bring a resh perspective to this case study.

Market Interviews

Another important limitation was that most o the Dzorwulu armers did not speak speak English. This limited the number o interviews we were able to carry out due to the need or a translator. translator. It also had a negative infuence on the realization o ocus groups, since the armers that did speak English sometimes monopolised the activity and might have altered the responses o others. Furthermore, every every eort has been made to understand the perspectives o all stakeholders however the group is aware that the presenters at the Question and Answer sessions may not have always accurately communicated the interests o the institutions they represent. A ull analysis o the project’s project’s limitations can be ound in Appendix C.


Transect Walks

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ThEORETiCAL FRAmEwORk

This project viewed the promotion o sustainable urban agriculture through the lens o the Sustainable Urban Livelihoods Framework Framework (Meikle, et al., 2001) in order to highlight h ighlight how urban agriculture is a being used by the urban poor to meet their short shor t and long-term objectives and how this strategy can be supported and strengthened. The Sustainable Livelihoods model approaches poverty as not just being a lack o wealth but also as a position o insecurity in many aspects. The poorest members o society are especially vulnerable to external shocks and stresses and call on a number o dierent strategies to be able to cope with these pressures. (See Figure 2 on page 10 or an analysis o the current situation in Dzorwulu rom a SUL perspective). The ramework views the urban poor as having a number o assets on which they use to improve their security and sustain their livelihoods. Thus, a successul livelihoods livelihoods strategy should be seen as a way to expand these assets. The strategic strategic interventions which will be outlined in this report will expand the assets o the Dzorwulu armers in order to increase their ability to withstand external shocks and stresses and decrease their vulnerability. See Figure 1 below. For the purpose o this study the category o political assets was added, as the circumstances at Dzorwulu provided the armers with a number o key political benets. Specically, Specically, armers were able to access political representation and have a political voice through their Farmers’ Association. The Association is also a member o AWGUPA which provides them with an even wider political voice. A sustainable urban livelihoods approach places importance on the act that t hat any strategy is viewed within the specic context o the Dzorwulu area and to acknowledge that assets and livelihood strategies ace a number o unique opportunities Figure 1: Farmers’ Assets and constraints. It is also o great great importance that any strategy be centred on the armers’ own priorities and abilities and on the act that they are valuable actors within the process. Although the SUL Framework Framework ocuses on armers, it will also reveal some o the positive contributions urban agriculture and in particular, a transition towards sustainable urban agriculture, can make to urban sustainability.


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F i g u r e 2 : U r b a n A g r i c u l t u r e a s a S u s t a i n a b l e U r b a n L i v e l i h o o d


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SiTE hiSTORy

Dzorwulu is located in the central northern part o central Accra. It is an area o around 15 hectares situated on government-owned (VRA/GRIDCO) land next to the Dzorwulu substation and cultivation occurs underneath the high-tension electric cables.

1970s The site rst began at the end o the 1970s as a Ministry o Food and Agriculture model arm. Ater the project was terminated some o the MoFA employees remained and continued to arm the land while outsiders also came and occupied vacant land or arming. Some o the original MoFA employees continue to arm on the site Location o Dzorwulu in Accra today. today. During the t he 1970s only organic ertilizer such as poultry manure was used. The soil quality was good and the stream was cleaner, partly due to ewer residential housing in the area.

1980s In the 1980s, the infux o new armers continued through recruitment o arming helpers who arrived through amily/social connections and worked under the people occupying the land. The 1980s saw the introduction o chemical ertilizers to the site and the construction o the ponds now used to store both stream and piped water.

Cultivation Cultiva tion next to Dzorwulu substation


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1990s In the 1990s some land was subdivided amongst the helpers h elpers that had been hired as their employers let the site. To To this day this is the main route through which people access access land in Dzorwulu. This means that a gradual densication and intensication has occurred with newer arrivals arming smaller plots than the original ones. As the same amount o land is being shared amongst more people it has led to the need to increase the productivity and output o the t he land to make it a viable livelihood option. Land is not let to allow and armers must use more chemical ertilizers in order to increase and maintain yields but the same ertilizers are depleting the soil quality. In addition, due to increasing urbanization in the Dzorwulu area coinciding with inecient waste management the water quality o the stream has deteriorated. deteriorated. It should be noted that since other than the original MoFA employees, no new emale armers have joined.

Original MoFA employees employees and some o the most long standing Dzorwulu armers

2000s In 2000 the Dzorwulu Vegetable Vegetable Farmer’s Farmer’s Association was ormed and registered with the Department o Cooperatives Cooperatives in 2002. In Dzorwulu today there are around thirty males and three emales, emales, with all but three males part o the Association.

Mapping o Dzorwulu site history with armers


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CURRENT SiTUA SiTUATiON TiON

Vegetables Vegetables are cultivated under intensive irrigation and there t here is a high degree o seasonality to produce. An inormal agreement with the VRA to use the land exists but armers do not have any legal agreement to secure their presence in the area. Nevertheless, a perception o secure land tenure is shared by both the armers and government institutions such as MoFA and the Ministry o Lands, Forestry and Mines. This site also benets rom the strength o the aorementioned Farmers’ Farmers’ Association, which helps the armers coordinate their eorts, access training and services ser vices and collectively purchase equipment and inputs. The armers have also participated in numerous research projects projects with IWMI, the University o Ghana and others which has helped improve their knowledge and practices. Although these relationships are valuable there is still opportunity to improve the positive impact they may have (See Strategy 3 on page 27). Some o the challenges which ace the Dzorwulu armers are a lack o reliable, aordable, aordable, and clean water sources, increasing diculty in accessing ertilizers and limited means to expand their production either through acquiring more land or improving their terms o trade. These concerns will be ur ther elaborated in the ollowing section and some possible strategies to address them will be oered.

A armer applies chemical ertilizer to his crops

Hypotheses Based on the preliminary diagnosis generated rom the review o secondary literature, our hypotheses were developed developed prior to the eld visit. These ell loosely into the categories o land, water and waste. The inormation gathered while in Accra led to the development o intervention strategies based on three o the our hypotheses while the ourth, although there were many interesting ndings did not reach the strategy stage. The detailed detailed strategies as well as a summary o the ndings rom the ourth hypothesis are ound in the ollowing section.


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hyPOThESiS 1 Implementing a composting program can transorm solid waste into a productive input or sustainable urban agriculture. I this is done at the community level it will provide additional benets in terms o income and community building. Findings and Diagnosis This hypothesis examined the potential or using waste as a productive input on the Dzorwulu site. The ndings rom this research show problems and opportunities in two main areas: solid waste management and access to ertilizer. (See Appendix D or complete ndings) From the review o secondary data, it was ound that the waste management system in Accra is unable to remove all o the waste that is currently generated. This was conrmed by the Waste Management Department (WMD) ( WMD) as well as Zoomlion, the private contractor responsible or waste collection collection in the neighbourhoods around the study site. The WMD added that approximately 25% o waste remains uncollected or is disposed o inormally by dumping in drains and streams or by burning. Waste management is very expensive or the city but i it is neglected can cause extensive health problems. From the armer’s perspective the main issue is access to an aordable and reliable source o ertilizer. Where poultry manure used to ll this requirement, requirement, armers are currently struggling because poultry arms have been relocated to the peri-urban area increasing its cost and causing diculties in transportation to the site. The armers also use chemical ertilizers which help to make the crops grow more quickly and appear larger but they acknowledge that it is doing damage to the quality o the soil. However, very ew armers have experimented with compost and even crop waste is only reused to a limited degree. Those armers who have some knowledge o and experience with compost have had positive results although these have sometimes been only in the long-term. Studies o compost schemes in West Arica have shown that composting is not viable economically but can be a benet or other environmental and social benets (IWMI, 2004). Some o the characteristics o the more successul schemes which also run with the least need n eed or nancial input and subsidies are shown in Table 2 on page 15.


Waste dumping in Accra

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STRATEGy 1: COmmUNiTy LED COmPOSTiNG Table 2: Characteristics Charac teristics of Successful Composting Projects in West Africa. (Source IWMI, 2004) High input o labour rather than capital makes projects more sustainable with lower nancial decits Partnerships with research institutions result in higher quality compost and an improved ability to build human capacity. When local communities have ownership over the project, they receive more community buy-in and show better results House-to-house waste collection or a small ee plus compost selling have been able to cover necessary nancial costs when the local community is actively involved in the project

Problem Given the ndings discussed above, the challenge is to design a program which would create an aordable source o ertilizer or armers, help to rehabilitate the land while taking into account the need or institutional support or the t he armers to provide training and resources to help them integrate compost into their arming practices. I implemented in the surrounding low-income communities (such as Kotobabi) with the participation o the community-members, a composting program could have positive social and environmental impacts such as creating jobs, removing uncollected waste and decreasing transportation costs or waste diverted rom landll.

Explanation o Strategy A community composting initiative would require a multistakeholder partnership to oversee the collection o organic waste rom households and its transormation into compost to be used by the Dzorwulu armers. Roles and motivations or each partner are detailed below. below. For the project to be successul, community members will need to sort the biodegradable biodegradable waste rom other trash. Participation will be voluntary but will be encouraged by charging less or picking up organic waste thereby providing a savings or Discussing community composting with households. Waste Waste will then be transerred either to a site armers within the community where compost will be made and sold to the armers or directly to the arm site where the armers themselves will be responsible or producing the compost. The decision will depend on t he availability o land within the community which will be determined during the rst phase o the initiative (See Action Plan on page 17).


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F i g u r e 3 : P r o p o s e d C o m m u n i t y C o m p o s t S t r a t e g y


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Action Plan This strategy has the potential to be implemented immediately as it is based in the current context o the arm and the community. It will take up to 2 to 3 years to be ully implemented. implemented. I successul, it has the potential to be replicated in other areas. Please note that in the ollowing Action Plan, Case 1 reers to composting done in the community and Case 2 to composting done on the arm site. Stage

Timerame Actor

Role

Resources

Feas Feasib ibil ility ity Stud Studyy 3 mon month thss

AWGUPA/IWMI

Assess: Economic viability Amount o waste that would be needed Availability Availability o land Policy and regulatory ramework

Sta time Financial Resources

Linking waste management with urban agriculture Community Consultation

AWGUPA/IWMI WMD

AWGUPA to invite WMD to be a member o AWGUPA or increase co-ordination

Sta time

1 month

AWGUPA/IWMI

Assess: Willingness to separate waste Level o interest in community o running the program


Up to 6 months

WMD AWGUPA/IWMI MoFA Sub-Metro Zoomlion Community Representatives Farmers’ Association

Multi-stakeholder negotiations to dene roles and commitments

Sta time

Planning and Preparation


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Stage

Timerame Actor

Role

Pilot Project

1-2 years

AWGUPA/IWMI

Community capacity building and Sta time training Financial Resources

Community Representatives

Waste collection Producing Compost (Case 1)

Labour

Farmers

Transporting Compost (Case 1) Producing Compost (Case 2)

Labour

WMD

Technical support Advocacy at the municipal level Technical support and provision o bins

Sta time

Zoomlion

Sub-metro

Advocacy at the municipal level Support with community education

MoFA

Review and update compost training or extension ocers Teach armers in use and production o compost


Resources

Sta expertise or advice and small nancial contribution to provide bins Small nancial contribution through the Submetro budget to support start-up costs (vehicle, tools etc) Sta time

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STAKEHOLDER AWGUPA/IWMI Community Farmers WMD Zoomlion MoFA Sub-metro

MOTIVATIONS Helps to promote sustainable urban agriculture in Accra Saves money, improves the environment, creates employment Saving money, increased soil ertility, accessible input, members o community Improves waste management in Accra, potentially low-cost solution, want to encourage recycling and reduction o waste Improves waste management in Accra, potentially low-cost solution, want to encourage recycling and reduction o waste Helps to promote sustainable urban agriculture in Accra Improves waste management, improves the communities environment, environment, political pressure o community, creates employment

Monitoring and Impact Assessment A number o the criteria mentioned at the beginning o the report will be used to assess the success o the strategy in contributing to the transition to sustainable urban agriculture. Dierent stakeholders will be responsible or collecting data relevant relevant to their role in the project and reporting their ndings back to the multi-stakeholder group that will be ormed in the planning and preparation phase. A complete description o the criteria chosen, the associated indicators and the stakeholder responsible or collecting data can be ound in Appendix A.

One o the wide variety o crops grown in Dzorwulu


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hyPOThESiS 2 Increased knowledge and awareness about appropriate wastewater use or irrigation or armers and local governments and pressuring or improvement o piped water is crucial to promote Sustainable Urban Agriculture Findings and Diagnosis It was hypothesized that increased knowledge and awareness about appropriate wastewater wastewater use or irrigation or armers and local governments and pressuring or improvement o piped water is crucial to promote SUA. SUA. Unortunately, eld ndings in Accra revealed not only that t hat wastewater use or irrigation is illegal, but piped-water is also discouraged as the city aces chronic water shortages. short ages. During stakeholder and individual meetings, MoFA ocials ocials and an extension ocer, ocer, as well as IWMI sta indicated the by-law regarding wastewater wastewater is currently being reviewed, and is to be changed by the end o 2009. A ocus group and a meeting with a representative rom DANIDA revealed negative views about wastewater use in arming rom the media has led to armers’ experiencing experiencing low market demand. The ocus group also disclosed armers’ perceptions perceptions o IWMI training programmes as unhelpul because the education “does “does not refect in the public.” (see Appendix E)

“ Due Due to several TV programmes about the use of wastewater for irrigation, people don’t eat vegetables in restaurants or they try to buy vegetables grown outside of Accra,” - DANIDA Water and Urban Governance Specialist Regarding the use o piped-water, a group interview revealed GWCL wants to use Accra’s scarce water or domestic and industrial use. This was conrmed by IWMI sta who cautioned that although this is the case, the cuts experienced by armers were not targeted as the armers thought but simply a result o GWCL’ GWCL’s citywide rotational water cuts. Through transect walks, individual interviews and ocus groups, many constraints were identied in the armers’ access to both wastewater and piped-water. For instance, ponds were identied as a coping strategy or water cuts; new pipes were ound not to be installed due to armers’ lack o legal ramework and nancial assets; water bills are charged at a xed rate subject to meter-reader/armer meter-reader/armer negotiations, and paid according to proximity o pipes to individual armers (see Appendix D or detailed ndings). Alternative water sources such as rainwater rainwater and groundwater proved proved to be impractical or many reasons such as the absence o roos to collect rainwater and the salinity o groundwater groundwater which caused an attempt by MoFA to drill a borehole to ail.


20

STRATEGy 2: vEGETAbLE bOx PiLOT PROjECT

Problem The ollowing strategy is based on the problem, as identied by armers, o a negative perception amongst consumers about their produce due to wastewater use or irrigation. Although armers on site use sae wastewater handling methods, market women claimed it would not be possible to promote or raise prices or saely grown products, because o a lack proo. proo.

Explanation o Strategy

Aquatic plants used to clean wastewater

During a Question and Answer session, ocials rom MoFA mentioned the idea o implementing a certication scheme based on sae water use to tackle the negative perceptions o consumers. The proposed proposed strategy expands on MoFA’s idea by creating a marketing pilot project, guaranteeing sae and healthy produce. The Vegetable Box Pilot Project (see Figure 4 on page 22) would consist o a reusable box including a variety o vegetables and herbs, that would be delivered regularly to consumers. The armers’ prior prior certication ensures that the vegetables are ree o contamination thereby gaining consumer Watering cans are a commonly trust. The project will be targeted at high-income residents in the used irrigation method Dzorwulu area who will hopeully be willing to pay a slightly higher price or the convenience o delivery and the security o clean vegetables. The delivery o the programme will depend on several stakeholders. FDB, MoFA MoFA and a third party inspector will be responsible or the realisation and continuation o the certication scheme, which is shown in detail in the Action Plan below. IWMI would continue to provide their sae wastewater handling training programmes; an initial nancial input is required rom MoFA; MoFA; and the Farmers Association Association needs to build upon their already existing social capabilities to create a Business Cooperative that will receive initial logistics and accounting support and training rom Enterprise Works. Works.


21

F i g u r e 4 : V e g e t a b l e B o x P i l o t P r o j e c t


22

Action Plan The next steps in the proposed strategy are threeold . Firstly, Firstly, easibility studies need to be undertaken to assess the willingness and acceptability o the Vegetable Vegetable Box Pilot Project amongst the armers, to assess the viability o the certication cer tication scheme and to provide a multi-stakeholder platorm to discuss responsibilities and roles within institutions or certication. Secondly, the certication program must be implemented and nally the Vegetable Vegetable Box Pilot Project can be put in place. (See Appendix A or Risk Assessment)

Stage

Timerame

Feasibility Study 3 months 1: Certication scheme

Feasibility Study 3 months 2: Farmers perception on Vegetable Box

Create platorm or discussion on certication scheme

4 months

Implementation 6 months Certication Stage 1: Institutions

Actor

Role

MoFA IWMI

Economic easibility Required educational & technical input Willingness o armers Financial capacity o armers Enterprise Works Acceptability Farmers’ Required nancial input (boxes, (boxes, Association transport, additional hired labour, etc) Capacity to create business cooperative EPA Discuss and delegate MoFA responsibilities FDB Set standards and prices IWMI Discuss process o quality control District Assembly FDB FDB – create certication (e.g. + train sta, technical equipment Other or quality control, contract Third stakeholders Party Inspector)


Resources Financial input, Human resources

Financial input, Human resources

Political commitment, Human resources, resources, Neutral location or platorm meeting Financial input, Human resources, resources, Technical equipment

23

Stage

Timerame

Actor

Role

Implementation 3 months Certication Stage 2: Farmers Training

Farmers’ Association IWMI Schools

Implementation 3 months Certication Stage 3: Promotion

FDB MoFA Media

Implementation Certication Stage 4: Monitoring Implementation Veggie Box Pilot: Stage 1

Regularly and continuous

Media

IWMI – train armers in sae Human resources, wastewater wastewater handling + train Small nancial input educators in creating education programmes about wastewater wastewater Farmers Association (to agree on time and space or learning to take place) Networking between IWMI and schools Promote certication within Financial input, department Human resources Disaggregating Disaggregating & targeting consumers Promoting certication & vegetable boxes Addressing healthy production & holistic advantages o UA MoFA – Third party inspectors Financial input, carry out monitoring o veg Human resources, resources, Media – watchdog Technical equipment

3 months

Farmers’ Create business cooperative, Association discuss prices and distribution & Enterprise Works diversity o vegetable growing, growing, purchase equipment Works – support process

Financial input or start-up

Farmers’ Farmers – taking orders, growing Association veg/hiring labour to help them Enterprise Works grow veg and deliver Works – supporting armers in marketing & logistics o veg boxes Farmers’ Farmers – extend target clients Association (ordering, delivering) to lowMedia income communities or aordable prices (eg. schools)

Financial input, Community arm labourers

Implementation 24 months Veggie Box Pilot: Stage 2

Implementation 12 months Veggie Box Pilot: Stage 3


Resources

Finance or media campaign, community arm labourers

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STAKEHOLDER

MOTIVATIONS

MOFA

Intention Intenti on to change the negative perception about UA

District assembly

Represent their constituency, develop good relationship w/ constituency (ensure votes)

EPA

Part o their mandate, deend the environmental aspect in certication creation

F DB

Intention to ensure healthy ood products or end users

Schools

Media

Hands-on education about their local environment, sustainable lunches, educated/enlightened children, lowcost eld trips Ethics, tell the truth

Enterprise Works

Part o their mandate to increase the prot o armers

Dzorwul Dzo rwulu u Farmers armers Associ Associati ation on and Farmers armers

Increa Increase se prot prot

Monitoring & Impact Assessment The impacts o this strategy will be monitored using a number o indicators which relate to the relevant SUA criteria mentioned earlier in this report. These criteria and indicators can be ound in Appendix A.

Stream water used by Dzorwulu armers or irrigation


25

hyPOThESiS 3 The resilience o the Dzorwulu area will be enhanced by increasing and promoting biodiversity through exchange o existing knowledge and skills and promotion o knowledge sharing networks. Findings and Diagnosis The initial hypothesis proposed that the resilience o the Dzorwulu area would be enhanced by increasing and promoting biodiversity through exchange o existing knowledge and sk ills, and the promotion o knowledge sharing networks. In this t his research, biodiversity was understood as the use o intercropping as a way to control pests and maintain the quality o the soil; to ensure some level o production even during extreme weather and the growing o plants or sel-consumption to enhance armers’ ood security. While in Dzorwulu, it was observed that the area represents an island o biodiversity in Accra, with many species o amphibians, reptiles, sh, insects and birds. This nding supported the hypothesis, since these organisms have a role to play in pest control, pollination and preservation o the soil structure. In the wider context o the city, it was known that Dzorwulu also represents a green area that improves improves the air quality o the city and its organisms such as rogs help control malaria mosquitos (Baker, (Baker, 2009).

A diverse range o species was ound on the Dzorwulu site The diversication o crops, intercropping and planting or sel-consumption is already in place. However, However, during a ocus group, the team learned that it is generally used to maximize land use, with little awareness o its use or pest control. This led to an exchange o knowledge between the armers and the researchers, combining the practical experience o the armers in agriculture and the need to improve the use o the scarce land; and the team’s scientic knowledge about intercropping or pest control. Farmers showed willingness to experiment with new ways o intercropping to better control pests and expand the area o sel-consuming crops within the border o their beds, as well as to sh are successul ndings with other armers. (See complete Findings Findings in Appendix D) D)


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STRATEGy 3: kNOwLEDGE ShARiNG NETwORkS FOR FOR PARTCiPATORy PARTCiPATORy RESEARCh RESEARCh Problem From the late 70’s MoFA designated Dzorwulu as an experimental area to develop low-tech innovations in agriculture. An Integrated Pest Management program was implemented but the armers received little ollow-up advice or training. Other institutions such as IWMI have experimented with other improvements such as the use o ponds to improve the quality o stream water. water. Furthermore, the University o Ghana has organized student eldtrips and a pilot micronance project to set up a saving scheme among armers. Unortunately, Unortunately, these programs had weak support rom the institutions and low eedback rom the armers, who test the new techniques and their easibility. Consequently, Consequently, the programs did not last in the long-term and were not dynamic to meet new needs that appeared in the eld.

Explanation o Strategy The strategy attempts to establish a Knowledge Sharing Network o Participatory Research based on armers needs to help them use biodiversity to cope with external pressures and stresses (See Figure 5 on page 28). The participatory research is the proposed way to bridge the dialogue between armers’ knowledge and scientic knowledge. The starting point o the t he strategy is an inter-institutional agreement between the Dzorwulu Farmers Association, MoFA, MoFA, University o Ghana and IWMI; since all these stakeholders are a part o AWGUPA, the inter-institutional agreement strengthens the action o this multi-stakeholder platorm. Additionally the agreement ensures that:

Knowledge sharing with armers on the potential o intercropping

• Farmers support participatory research in Dzorwulu and provide feedback to the Extension Ocer, University and IWMI • The University contributes contributes to the training of the t he Extension Ocers • The University supports participatory research in Dzorwulu with courses in organic agriculture in its Department o Science • IWMI supports participatory part icipatory research in Dzorwulu, with their PhD students, Internships and DPU students • Monitoring will be the responsibility of the stakeholders at dierent stages as shown in Appendix A. The strategy will be see the creation and sharing o knowledge with other armers such as the Plant Pool and Roman Ridge and in the international sphere with RUAF through learning rom the Urban Agriculture Magazine and sharing by publishing the results o participatory research that takes place in Dzorwulu.


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F i g u r e 5 : K n o w l e d g e S h S a t r r i a n t e g g N y e S t w c h o e r m k a s f t i o c r P a r t i c i p a t o r y R e s e a r c h


28

Action Plan The next gure shows the stages, actors and resources needed or the implementation o this strategy. The stakeholders selected or the agreement agreement and the network were chosen according to the ndings o the ocus group on Mapping Networks and because o their current work in the area (See Appendix E or a detailed description o the ocus group ndings). Stage

Timerame

Actor

Role

Resources

Feasibility Study through multistakeholder platorm

3 months

IWMI Farmers’ Association AWGUPA MoFA IWMI Farmers’ Association Farmers AGWUPA MoFA

Establish an interest in the strategy; roles or each actor and level o involvement AWGUPA to play acilitating role or meetings Agreement Agreement university and MoFA to train Extension Ocers Agreement Agreement university and MoFA to use participatory and applied reseach methods to their course on organic agriculture and work with Dzorwulu armers Agreement IWMI and MoFA to use participatory and applied reseach methods in their PhD research Agreement Agreement to establish the monitoring scheme among Farmers, Farmers, University, IWMI and Moa under the umbrella o AWGUPA.


Pilot Project Stage 6 months 1: Planning and preparation Inter-institutional agreement


University Courses on organic agriculture Practices in the site already IWMI Research developed in the area PhD students Ability to organise research projects MoFA Extension ocers Budget or training AWGUPA All these stakeholders are part o the platorm.

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Stage

Timerame

Actor

Role

Resources

Pilot Project Stage 12 months 2: Implementation

MoFA

Training to the Extension Ocers rom University experts (practical and theoretic) Identiy needs to tackle Contribute to the participatory research Feedback the researchers University & IWMI students using participatory method in their Dzorwulu research Farmers eedback and reestablishing objectives according to their needs

Budget or the Extension Ocer training

Farmers

University (students and teacher) IWMI (PhD students and researchers) Pilot Project Stage 12 months 3: Monitoring

Time, knowledge and willingness

Course on agriculture Students and teachers time, knowledge

Farmers’ Association Farmers

Farmers share inormation and Monthly meetings techniques they have been Time applying ; establish relevance and useulness o it

University o Ghana

Moni Monito tori ring ng Teach eacher er-s -stu tude dent ntss


Time Time

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STAKEHOLDER Dzorwulu Dzorwulu Farmer Farmerss Associa Association tion and Farmer Farmerss

MoFA

University o Ghana

IWMI

AWGUPA

MOTIVATIONS Save Save money money by by not using chemical chemical pesticide pesticidess and time by not having to spread them. Save money by harvesting crops or sel-consumption instead o buying at market. Improve the productivity and quality o the soil. Strengthen their Association and relations with other actors Receive training and advice rom the University and IWMI to improve the technical support given to the armers through the Extension Ex tension Ocer. Strengthen projects such as IPM with scientic ollow up. An opportunity to support urban agriculture. Income rom training o the Extension Ocer. Ocer. Gain experience in participatory research methods Strengthen relations with international research institutions. Strengthen their position in AWGUPA. Continue experimenting in Dzorwulu. Receive armers’ eedback into their research making the outcome-applied research. Strengthen relations with other actors. Support their aim to work or ood security. Strengthen their platorm. Help to promote sustainable urban agriculture in Accra.

Monitoring and Impact Assessment The Monitoring and Impact Assessment is based on the denition o SUA previously presented, the potential to meet the criteria and indicators to monitor it, with the actor responsible in each case. The details o the Monitoring and Impact Assessment are shown in Appendix A.

Dzorwulu armers interact with a MoFA Extension Ocer


31

hyPOThESiS 4 By enhancing existing armers social capital (in terms o the level o organisation and ability to negotiate) and strengthening existing relationships (with NGO’s, government departments and other organisations) access to nancial services and credit or the promotion o sustainable urban agriculture could be improved. This hypothesis originally implied that by increasing the ability o the armers to access to credit and nancial services, their livelihoods livelihoods could be improved improved through expanding their nancial assets. assets. In the eld, research was undertaken through semi-structured interviews with armers including key members o the armers’ association association and ocus groups specically looking at nancial aspects o the armers’ lives. The research aimed to establish the requirements the armers’ have or credit, and i credit were obtained what they would spend it on. Farmers identied identied that their main constraints nancially are a lack o availability availability o land on which to extend their arming practices at Dzorwulu and that they require help with the expense o buying chemical inputs (ertilizers and pesticides). It was quickly quickly established that there is no land available or the armers to expand upon at Dzorwulu and that whilst increasing the money available to them to purchase chemicals might help them in the short term, in the long term it would increase their reliance on chemicals and deplete their natural assets, ultimately not being sustainable. One main nding o the research was the act the armers have an irregular and unreliable income which led to the hypothesis being re-thought to address these nancial nancial diculties. diculties. It was also mentioned by a number o stakeholders Market women at Agbogbloshie market, a major and the armers themselves that they ace destination or Dzorwulu produce exploitation in the market place by the market women. However, However, a small amount o research was done with market women in the eld and it was established that the relationship between armers and market women is complex and that any strategy to do with the armers selling directly to consumers would need urther research to be undertaken into the relationship with the market women so as not to negatively aect their livelihoods.


32

An analysis was undertaken in the eld into the t he current fow o their nancial resources. resources. This was split into production and input costs or arming and personal expenses expenses (See Figure Figure 6 ). Nearly all armers indicated that they spend a signicant amount, i not the majority o their income on ood or themselves and their amilies. Through this analysis the conclusion was reached that the existing three t hree strategies would benecially aect the armers income and that a separate nancial strategy was not needed. The combined eects o the strategies on the armers’ nancial assets are detailed in the Conclusion section below but the ollowing diagram shows how they improve the fow o money or the armers and enable them to save money or the next season’s season’s inputs and or their own personal security (See Figure 7).

Figure 6: Analysis o armers’ nancial fows

Figure 7: Analysis o impact o proposed strategies on armers’ nancial fows


33

CONCLUSiONS

Returning to the Sustainable Urban Livelihoods Framework, Framework, each o the proposed strategies will expand the assets o the Dzorwulu armers, helping them become less vulnerable and more able to respond to external shocks and stresses. The expected impacts on each category o assets and the overall impact on the armers’ security are outlined in Table 3 on pages 35-36. This report has shown that urban agriculture has the potential to be a sustainable livelihood strategy or the armers o Dzorwulu i certain vulnerabilities can be addressed. addressed. The armers o Dzorwulu are ortunate to have a certain degree o land tenure security, which is an asset not available to all urban armers but which may be necessary or the proposed strategies to be replicated in other areas. In order or urban agriculture to play its role in urban sustainability and ood security, it is also necessary to build partnerships that will promote its long-term success. The Dzorwulu Farmers’ Farmers’ Association plays a central role in each o the suggested interventions in acknowledgement o what they have achieved so ar or the site and the important contributions that they t hey will no doubt make in the uture. Farmers’ organizations create a platorm or the exchange o inormation and resources both between armers and with the institutions, which provide the ramework or support or urban agriculture. Strengthening these associations and improving their relationships will ensure a positive and sustainable impact on armers’ livelihoods livelihoods as well as on Accra as a whole.

A armer at work on the Dzorwulu site


34

T a b l e 3 : I m p a c t o f S t r a t e g i c I n t e r v e n t i o n s o n L i v e l i h o o d A s s e t s


35

T a b l e 3 : I m p a c t o f S t r a t e g i c I n t e r v e n t i o n s o n L i v e l i h o o d A s s e t s


36

RECOmmENDATiONS

This report has identied some specic ways that urban agriculture on the Dzorwulu site can be made more sustainable. However, However, there are also a number o ways that urban agriculture in general can be supported within Accra.

1.

Increase commitment and participation part icipation o all AWGUPA stakeholders stakeholders and extend it to include others as necessary

2.

Promote public and institutional awareness awareness o urban agriculture in general and organic produce more specically

3.

Recognize and protect urban agriculture as part o city’s plans

4.

Improve mechanisms and procedures or securing land or potential armers

5.

Improve communication within and between institutions institution s to provide support or armers, including strengthening the role o Extension Ocers to act ac t as liaisons


37

REFERENCES

Baker, P., 2009. Personal conversation on 12th May at Dzorwulu site. IWMI, 2004. “Closing “Closing the rural-urban nutrient cycle: Options or municipal waste composting in Ghana”, IWMI, West Arica. Meikle, S., Ramasut, T., and Walker, Walker, J., 2001. “Sustainable Urban Livelihoods: Concepts and Implications or Policy”, Working Paper Number 112, UCL Development Planning Unit.


38

APPENDix A: mONiTORiNG AND imPACT ASSESSmENT MONITORING AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT: STRATEGY 1 Criteria

Potential Impact

*All data to be reported to multi-stakeholder group Economic Generates long term Impr Improv ovin ing g erti ertili lity ty o land land employment Jobs created in the community collecting waste and producing compost Social A socially inclusive Community actively involved involved activity in waste management

Promoting networks or knowledge sharing, emphasizing local knowledge

Low inp input ut o lab labour our

Institutional recognition and support o inormal waste separation which already exists in low-income communities Farmers would have improved improved training rom extension ocers, other armers or other sources Case ase 1: 1: No No add addit itio iona nall inp input ut o labour or armers and benets in increased soil ertility in the long term Case 2: More labour or armers producing compost in the short term but benets in increased soil ertility in the long term


Monitoring and Evaluation

Qual Qualit ityy and and qua quant ntit ityy o prod produc uce e Nutrient level o soil - MoFA/Farmers No o jobs created – AWGUPA to monitor

Level o community involvement shown through: No o households consulted No o households involved in waste separation – Submetro/AWGUPA/Zoomlion Active participation o all invited stakeholders in multi-stakeholder group - AWGUPA

No o armers trained in compost use and production – MoFA Training quality and relevance – Farmers eedback Number o hours invested or saved due to strategy – Farmers eedback Perception Perception o impact on labour - Farmers

39

MONITORING AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT: STRATEGY 1 continued Criteria

Potential Impact


Environmental Closed loop system (recycling and reusing) Organic (no chemical ertilizers, pesticides or GMOs) Political Strengthens the democratic process o decision making both amongst the armers and with external stakeholders

Organic kitchen/municipal waste turned into a productive input Less chemical chemical ertiliz ertilizers ers used used

Creates awareness o urban agriculture and multi-stakeholder platorm between armers, the community, and institutions


Amount o organic waste recycled – AWGUPA, Zoomlion/WMD Amount Amount o chemical chemical ertiliz ertilizers ers used used beo beore re and and ater - Farmers

Formation o multi-stakeholder group - AWGUPA

40

MONITORING AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT: STRATEGY 2 Criteria

Potential Impact


Economic Generates long term employment Provides sucient and stable income to meet basic needs

Social Minimizes health risks

Promoting networks or knowledge sharing, emphasizing local knowledge Environmental Biodiversity o crops to ensure resilience Political Mult Multii-st stak akeh ehol olde derr appr approa oach ch

Legal ramework and resources provided to promote sustainable urban agriculture

Jobs created in implementation stage o veg pilot project or arm hand Veg Box adds value to product, increases protability, prices are set by armers business cooperative

No o jobs created - Enterprise Works to monitor

Regular quality control through certication Incentive through increased income by veggie box Increased and ocused training or ocials and armers

Levels o contamination - Third Party Inspector

Increases diversity o crops available in box at the same time

Additional income per armer Internal Auditing o pilot scheme by Farmers Business Cooperative

Number o active participants in training - IWMI

Number o dierent crops cultivated at the same time - Farmers Business Cooperative

Mult Multip iple le sta stake keho hold lder er inv invol olve veme ment nt Number o stakeholders recurrently in certication scheme involved in certication scheme MoFA Certication scheme provides added legitimacy and credibility to armers practices


Increase o number o costumers Farmers Business Cooperative Public opinion polls - Media

41

MONITORING AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT: STRATEGY 2 continued Risk Assessment/P Assessment/Pilot ilot Project Limitati Limitations: ons: -

Farmers need to be willing to implement the pilot programme Farmers vegetable boxing schemes as company takes away the independence o individual armers, thereore, thereore, it needs to be set up as a co-operative cooperative between between armers Pilot Project depends on success o business cooperative cooperative created by armers Success o business cooperative cooperative depends on equal distribution o tasks and prot within the organisation Initial nancial support to kick start pilot project (boxes, transport, additional hired labour, labour, etc) Side eects/adverse risk o Pilot Project on Market Women Land lease or armers an advantage or Pilot Project Price o certication certi cation or armers’ too expensive


42

MONITORING AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT: STRATEGY 3 Criteria Economic Stable income

Social Improves the quality o nutrition Knowledge sharing networks & local knowledge

Mini Minimi mise sess hea healt lth h ris risks ks

Environmental Biodiversity

Management o soil

Organic pr producti ction

Potential Impact


Farmers would be able to invest in in the next season..

Debts o the armers Farmers/ association secretary

Farmers will secure a percentage o their ood while ensuring the quality o their nutrition. Institutional recognition and support o inormal waste separation which already exists in low-income communities

Number o health issues complaints among the armers. Extension ocers/association secretary Minutes rom Farmers’ Association meetings. Feedback reports rom extension ocers. Number o visits rom university students. Extension ocers/ association secretary.

Farme armers rs wo won n’t be expo expose sed d to to chemicals

Number o health issues complaints among the armers. Extension ocers/association secretary

Space allocated or selNo o bed with dierent crops, No consumption. Farmer o beds/crops or sel-consumption; experimentation with intercropping. intercropping. Extension ocers/Farmers – Monitoring committee Improving ertility o land Quality and quantity o produce Nutrient level o soil Extension ocers/Farmers ocers/Farmers No us use o o ch chemical pe pestic ticides or or ertilizers

Expenses on chemical ertilizers and pesticides Extension ocers/Farmers – Monitoring committee

Closer relationship o institutions, inside and outside AWGUPA.

Number o meetings rom members o the institutional agreement. New members in the agreement. Monitoring committee.

Political Multi-stakeholder approach


43

APPENDix b: mEThODOLOGy SChEDULE

Stage

Date

Method

Stakeholder

Purpose

Pre- e-eldtrip wo work

Jan-16 to to Ma May-01

Systematic re review o secondary data Critical appraisal o the literature and data extraction

N/A

Determine a diagnosis o the current situation and context in order to construct hypothesis in accordance with the ToR.

Pre-eldtrip work

Jan-16 to May-01

Fishbone analysis

N/A

Understand casual relations within sustainable urban agriculture

Pre-eldtrip work

Jan-16 to May-01

Stakeholder analysis

N/A

Identiy actors and their relations

Pre-eldtrip work

Jan-16 to May-01

Web o institutionalisation

N/A


Pre-eldtrip work

Jan-16 to May-02

Stakeholder mapping

N/A


Pre- e-eldtrip wo work

Jan-16 to to Ma May-03

Reporting on on n ndings - Pre-eldtrip group presentation

N/A

Analysis, interpretation and presentation o ndings: hypothesis, linking to criteria, methodology

Pre-eldtrip work

Jan-16 to May-04

Individual coursework

N/A

To explore in urther detail specic issues related to the hypothesis.

Fieldtrip

May-04

1 Semi-structured interview

LOCAL LOCAL FACI FACILIT LITA ATOR TOR

To discus discusss our provi provisio sional nal diag diagnos nosis is and arrange eld visits.

Fieldtrip

May-05

3 Focus groups

FARMERS_ASSOC

To explore general issues and perceptions related to all our hypothesis.

Fieldtrip

May-05

Transect walk

(DZORWULU SITE)

To have a general eeling o the site and look or any physical aspects and people’s behaviour.

Fieldtrip

May-06

Presentation and Q&A session

WMD

To have a general knowledge o the stakeholder’s stakeholder’s position towards SUA, and to address specic questions in relation to the site.

Fieldtrip

May-06


NDPC


Fieldtrip

May-06


IWMI


Fieldtrip

May-07


DEP_COOP



44

Fieldtrip

May-07

Direct observation

FARMERS_ASSOC To asses the quality of relationship between the members of the Association and the issues addressed in the meeting.

Fieldtrip

May-07

Focus group

FARMERS

To explore issues and perceptions related to H1.

Fieldtrip

May-07

Focus group

FARMERS


Fieldtrip

May-07

Focus group

FARMERS

To explore issues and perceptions related to H3 and H4.

Fieldtrip

May-07

Participatory observation

FARMERS

To understand current practices.

Fieldtrip

May-07


ENTERPRISE WORKS

To have a general knowledge of the stakeholder’s position towards SUA, and to address specic questions in relation to the site.

Fieldtrip

May-07


FARMERS - Chairman of the association

To explore issues and perceptions.

Fieldtrip

May-07


FARMERS - Secretary of the association

To explore issues and perceptions.

Fieldtrip

May-08


PHD


Fieldtrip

May-08


DANIDA


Fieldtrip

May-08


IWMI


Fieldtrip

May-09

Participatory mapping

FARMERS

To understand the relationship of the farmers with other stakeholders.

Fieldtrip

May-09

Focus group

FARMERS



45

Fieldtrip

May-09


SUBMETRO


Fieldtrip

May-09

7 Semi-structured interviews

FARMERS

To explore issues and perceptions in relation to all hypothesis.

Fieldtrip

May-09


MARKE MARKET_W T_WOM OMEN EN

To explore explore issues issues and perce percepti ptions ons of the market women.

Fieldtrip

May-11


LAND_&_FORESTRY


Fieldtrip

May-11


MOFA


Fieldtrip

May-12


ENTERPRISE WORKS


Fieldtrip

May-12

Participatory mapping

FARMERS

To place events in time and how these have affected the farmers.

Fieldtrip

May-12

Focus group

FARMERS

To explore the farmers’ perception of H1 strategy.

Fieldtrip

May-12


FACILITATOR

To address nal information needs related to all hypothesis.

Fieldtrip

May-12


FARMERS

To address nal information needs related to all hypothesis.

Fieldtrip

May-12

Participatory observation

FARMERS

To understand current practices.

Fieldtrip

May-12


ZOOM_LION


Fieldtrip

May-12


TOWN_&_PLANNING


Fieldtrip

May-12


LOCAL_COMMUNITY

To explore the local dwellers’ perception of H1 strategy. strategy.


46

APPENDix APPEND ix C: LimiT LimiTA ATiONS Interviews Language and time actors limited the number and quality o the interviews. Most armers on the site did not speak English. This limited the number o interviews because there needed to be a translator or interviewing and there was not always one available. Although there were several several eld visits, armers needed to go back to their daily chores which limited the time available or engaging with the study team. Since the interviews took place in the open, adverse weather sometimes prevented prevented the group rom continuing with the interviews. Furthermore, some interviewers were not able to go through the whole questionnaire with the armers because o the language and time issues mentioned above; thereore only partial responses were taken. Although it is important to be fexible and adaptable while interviewing someone, someone, this sometimes directs the conversation conversation to other issues that were not necessarily included in the questionnaire. As a result o these, the interview notes rom the same semi-structured questionnaire may not be systematic or comprehensive but conversely they may also include interesting inormation that was unanticipated by the research team.

Focus Groups Regarding the limitations o the ocus group discussions, it is important to highlight t hat the people who did speak English at times monopolised the activity and might have altered the responses o the non-English participants. Also, the intention o the questions might have been lost in translation. General limitations o ocus group discussions include the diculty o making generalizations rom the ndings and that the eciency o the activity depends on the t he skills o the acilitators to conduct the ocus groups and the ability o note-takers.

Stakeholderr Meetings Stakeholde In the meetings with relevant stakeholders, lecturers’ sensibility towards certain issues or personal believes might have infuenced their presentation and the Q&A session and thereore they did not necessarily represent ully their institution’s institution’s position. Since the presentation and Q&A sessions with key stakeholders were attended by members rom all three groups (Tema, La and Dzorwulu) the group could not address all the questions that they intended and limited the time to go deep into relevant subjects or the group. group.

General Research Perceptions Perceptions and opinions are built when analysing secondary data. These aect the disposition o the researchers when going to the eld. It is sometimes hard to identiy and overcome those assumptions and thereore they might infuence the researchers’ approach. Further, the hypotheses were ormulated beore going to the eld, i.e. rom a top-down top- down approach. The group tried to overcome this by testing the relevance and accuracy o the hypothesis by interviewing the armers on matters related to it and sometimes even addressing the hypothesis explicitly.


47

APPENDix D: wEbS OF iNSTiTUTiONALizATiON

- C - -L C S h F a o c o a k m r n t p t d o e f o k s r m P n t M o s t h e w e e i l x n n p k e e d a i s n n g e g s s i v o m e n e O y l l r g a n i c F o o d + + + N A P h o c D l a d r o n e e g m s i e t e c a r r c r m e s h p e b a a a r r t s i c c h e i o d p a n o t o q n r u c y o r a l e i m y p s t e o o a f s r m t c i n h u g o n i n c i n i A c p o a c m l c r p c a o o s m t p o s t i n g

W + o + R t h C M U e o r m A p F l m a / I c u W e n i M s t y I C d o o m i n p g o r s e t s i n e g a r h c h a p t p o e l n i n i n k g U i n A a n d

A p p l i e d r e s e a r c h

T h e o r y b u i l d i n g

+ f + + + S a C C P m o o r p r a e m m e v c r m m o i e s u u u f o s n n r i t i e t c y y x o h w p m e a i r p s l l i i n e o a g n s t g t c e a o o t o s w s d e i i t h r p t e e l a r c a o a t m i t o n e p s w o h a s i s t p t w e i t h

-2 -N -N 5 o o % e s p o d a f u c w c . e a p f s r o t o r e g c u o o n m c n p o w l l a o e s c s t t i t n e e g d s / i n N e o p a t h r c a e o t c i o m o p n m o a m s t t h u a o n t m t i m y u e n i c i p a l l e v e l

r e f e l e x W x p i v e r o e i m e r i n n e e n c a t a l e r e i n p t y r a d n e d m t a t e t h n i e o n i r o f

+ + W + I n M M P r f O i o v r a m F A t e a t w l a r w a n a i s s s t e t f e a c p r o m i l c l e k e c r e s t o r o s r s r n e i h n c o t y e c w r l e i n t s g o t e w c d o a m i n s p t e o e d s u t c a t i o n p r o g r a m s f o r

w -N a o s t e c o c o m m m m u n u t i n y i t n y i p u t i n t o

D e l i v a e r n y d o p f r p o r j e o c g r t s a m m e s

t h + e C M a o r m e e m a u t h n o i d t o y a o l l r g e a y d y c l e a n i n

+ + + F C A a o G r m m W e m U r u P s n A o t i r y g a g r n o i z u e p d s a s s e f c l o o - g r o p a e n r i z a e t i v d e s

P r c e s o s n s u r e t i t u o e n n c p o i l e t s i i c a l

a + R w S e a u p r b e r e o m f e s s e f t a o r t r n r m & u t a c e A t t r s u i v s r e a s e t e D m s p o z b l o l i y t r i w w c u o a l m l u e n

M O L i m F i A t e e d x t r t e a n i n s i n i g o n s o o n f c f i o c e m r p s o s t i n g f o r


S t a f f d e v e l o p m e n t

-W -W M a D s t n e i o s t n a o m t e b m e i n b g e v r i o e f w A e G d W a U s P a A p r o d u c t i v e i n p u t o -N r g a o n p i o c l i w c a y f s o t e r s c e o p m a m r u a t i n o i n t y c o m p o s t i n g o r

+ + P W o M s i D t i v l e o p o e k n r i c e g p a t i t o c n o o m f m f u a r n m i y e t r c s o b m y p s o u s b t -m i n g e t r o

P o l i t i c a l c o m m i t m e n t

E + + + n R P L v e o a r i l r g i g c o e y n u l m a f % t o e o r o r p n y t l f a f m a r l s u S a t m i n a e c i n w r c i i e p t a o c a t y r l i o k c b l n o f i u n P r g d o c e g l i o x e c m s i t i y p s 1 o t s 9 s p 9 t e 9 i n n g t o e n x i W s t s M c p U o e m r n m p i k n o t s s o w t i o n n t g c w o h m a p t o p s o r t c o e r p d r u o r v e i s d a e r l e a n n d e f e d o r e d o r

-N e e d f o r f i n a n c i a l s u p p o r t

+ M o n t h l y d u e s o f f a r m e r s

R e s o u r c e s

P o l i c y p l a n n i n g

P r o c e d u r e s

- -N C o o m m p u o t s l i t s i e s n c o t o t r m a a p i n p r s o t r a c e a h m l i e n d k i n a g t w t h a e s i n t e s t i a n t u d t i U o n a A l l e v e l

M a i n s a t g r r e i a c u m l i t n u g r e u r b a n

W a s t e : f i n d i n g s

W E B O F I N S T I T U T I O N A L I Z A T I O N : S T R A T E G Y 1

48

p C - b -F + p + e u a C o r F r o s r o f a c n i i r n m n e s e t s m p u s e s r u e t r m e i m s s r f e o s l e n r s e x W i f e a i s s x p n s r s d r i e v e h u r o a e e m h a s a s e i e v a i e r n n p e i r g e n d o n e a t e c n t r l r e a e e g o t i r n p t t a g o a n o y r n d a u g t e d m i i a t p n t i r l c v e a t e e r t h n e c e o i e o o s a n i t s n r u -N o i + o m e n m I f o s p W e l M r f t i e o s e m I A l l e c p o w p n o n l t i a d u e t p u i c d o o n t r n e o s r s a w + a + + a f + + n e o p n I E M i M d s s e u t W S r p m n e h c a O r l h a t M i c f s e e f F a e d r e a i D r p d e I o r a c A e o s r W s f w h m : e l r r l s e e i i i c W a e x W l s v l h e s i n e r a n t e a s a r e W g s h d W a n n y n a r m o g d s h t n c o i i a o e h d n o r f p k g r p n p l a n d i s n r n o s p c o r o l g i j o f n v r o f i t o n e i g d c g c s t r v e o e a u c i r m s m h d r e h t a a m s e a n i n g r e s m s i n e s g a p s t r r o k e o p r e e c n n r e g c t i q n p e r u p g t e i o t l a i t a l o r n i a t t n i y o i m o l U + n n c s i A R n a c s o U g g a h n l a a s i t A T p n t r o z t d F o i h l n a o e k p e e r o r g a h o r v a y n i n b f + d o l d o d i s u r W w e e s e s H r e s i s d l a O b t a f w i s h c e n i r c M t e o W p g e o r r e k o u s W s v t g t i h i o h o n u d s e d e s o g o u l i g d e y l i n e s

+ c + r F M e e a a r d t m i e e a v r a e s s g A w b s a o x s t o c p h i c i l a d o o t t i o g c n o - a o p s e b r a a s t e i v t e o

s + t a A k W e G h o U l P d e A r p p r l o a v t f d i o r m e s m u l t i -

P r c e o s n s s u r t i e t u o e n n c p i o l e i s t i c a l

R e p r e s s e t r n u t a c t t u i v r e e s p o l i t i c a l

-T O - + + n + M R e A r n O t a w W l U i A o G n y F i o l A F r n U g w a p k i n P S r g p e l A t o r r r e v o s a a d f i g o f p f d f r c a d i y e a c e m a i p s e v r t r l o m s f e a o l e p v i r o i n s a d i s p n r e g n t t a m o c i s f t t p f e t i o n r e a a d t s f e f n e i t v i i c o i n e n i n g e i o l o n r p c t o a m n u d e r n s m t e s d i a n f o l d r e v s e t a l f f s t a f f


U -M A O P a F o t A l h i i a i l t g h c c a e k l r s c l a o e v w m e m l a s r i e n t e m s e s n o t n

p -B -A u + i s M p e e y -l M A O d a F -w w h A s a a P t p s p u e o r n r r o s l i h e u c i g i b a n y i t t p i v g n i l d a g e r a n u p n f i s e t r e c f n o e g o p r f t n W o i e w n W o W & f W U A

A G - A -L + M W W W a O G C G c k U L U o F P / P f A i A P A i n n t U f e R o r P C o e r n s o / A e c F t V e d D d R n u L ,B i r i n c e s e o s r n t t i o f i t p a c p a r t t a i o o r t f n o f

r + e s M o O u F r A c e p R s r e s t o o o v i u p d r i e l c o e t s s f p i n r a o j n e c c i t a s l

-E o d -M a + M f s i n A P o O i W a r c A g o F s i n A s l a n u G s a n a U n e t c i e i g r m P r e k s i n A i s a c t c a e p U l a t i i u m e d w o m A d l i n e f t n a r e n u g o r r t n e m t i e f u n i e r o a e t i d b s t h o a s e w n n o a r e n t l l e e v U r v e A e l l a s s

W a t e r : f i n d i n g s


49

D + t + d + F o F z G e c a n a o h o ’ r r o n m r t w m c i d u r q o e e u l m r r u e e s s , a l a p w R t s . r r o i i o o e l m l i m n n c i g u s a s h e n r n p i r e R b e h s n t s r i e d t l e i y g t r t e f e e w p o l p x W r t r o r e a e x p e a y n c d n i e o d n v u t i c e e i r m f c P a i e e n t l r i w r i m g a o n n n t e n n s . e a t t e e c c r e o P s l h r i p a a m n n t o f r i y e r n d o o e q l u t d m . m o e a t r g s t h e a i e n t n h o n i a i c t o r

I p U S U W I n I W r n t u n e M o M t d i v d i v r u e e e I e I r n s r c m s h s e a t i t i t i s y a t v o i d e n y a t n . o o i r l y n g f e f f G a G d o o o o o h l h r a i d d n a e g s e n a n A r d a y a p r e a l e c r h p e d a s u t i e r o s o v l i i e a t n i e e n a g r y s d c c r h h a c o i r r u e n p h e o d r s a s n i w s e n e m i e w t d a r s a a p h r p c r e o c t o h e r x o i n h v t r e n g e o m r t g n r a a m s h a m e n a o i a n n m a n i g a o r c e e e g s m e f a a f g i f a r e m c o i n e e c c r u t u s n s . t t l h t s e e u o r d f e f a l o r . a n m n d l e a . r r s g e s a s i c d a . l e

T h e o R R n R R r U U e U U y w A A b A A t F F o F F u r h r i h i l n k d . a u a t e v v n i n e r e t n h g n a a e o t i d o n i a r e l l c y t o c r o i n e n t a t c e t d w . i t h f a r m e r s .

n e U r x b t e a n n s A i v e g r i i n c u t l e t u r n r a e t i M o n a a g l a z i n e .

f

c E E M e x x o r t t e F t a e n n A i s e n s i o i x o n n e t o o n D f f f f s e i i i c c o l e e n i v r s r o s a e r d n f f n y i o o c d n t e r p o o t r s f t a r p h i r n o e a i o n v j r p e o d e e c g r r t i c s a l t b n o m a o s c r e m k g r e f a e a l s n a r i t m c i o e t n e r c s s h q h i n p u q e i w s u i t t i e o s h n . a f s r m o n e r s .

m F e a e r m t i e n r g s ’ e A v e s r s y o t w c i o a t i w o e n e h k a s . v e a

P r c e o s n s s u r t i e t u o e n n c p i o l e i s t i c a l

f p A R o l W r a e t t f G p h e o r r U e s m P s t s A r w e a i t r n t e t h a u g t c a t c t i y h t n . e g t u i v r e n e a s e e a s p o d n l e i d a t i c s p p t a a o r l k p e r h a i o t l e d e r s

M e t h o d o l o g y


-A -A M M A A -M -M o o F F A A h h a a v v e e b p u o r d v g d e i t e f d o r t r t r a i a n i n i n n g i n o g n I P M .

S t a f f d e v e l o p m e n t

t A o t f t a h r m e e A r M s n A e e l e v d e s . ,l M O F A i s v e r y s e n s i t i v e

P o l i t i c a l c o m m i t m e n t

l A a w M s A i n -M f o P a v F A o o u a l i r r c o e y f c p t h u l r a e r n f e a n n r l i m t y n e o l g r s b . b y i n g t o m o d i f y b y c E i A n M l x s o s t t i A e e n t u -M c s t i i o o o n n n o F a t a o l i A c f s f f t c e i e w e d e P i . d t r h s r b o a f a a r c c r k e m e d i r s e e u r q n r s u o e . i t r s e d t o h a v e

-N e e d f o r f i n a n c i a l s u p p o r t

+ M o n t h l y d u e s o f f a r m e r s

M p M o e o F s F i A A t c i d p e p l s o r a n v s i d f e o s r s m u e b c s h i d a e n s i s f i o n r g c a h g e r m i c u i c l a t u l r f e e . r t i l i z e r s a n d

R e s o u r c e s

M a i n s a t g r r e i a c u m l i t n u g r e u r b a n

L a n d : f i n d i n g s


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APPENDix E: FOCUS GROUP TRANSCRiPTS

Compilation o general ocus group discussions with armers on May 05. 1.1 What are you growing? Cabbage, lettuce, onion, cucumber, caulifower, caulifower, carrots, Chinese cabbage, sweet pepper, white radish, radish, beetroot, spinach, okra, basil, kibra, coriander Woman – cabbage, lettuce, onion, spinach, caulifower, caulifower, basil. Dierent varieties in rainy seasons (More exotic vegetables: white radish, Chinese cabbage, carrots, sweet pepper) Local vegetables as well Caulifower, Caulifower, cabbage, cucumber, okra, beetroot, spinach and basil, spring onion and sweet pepper. They crop in all seasons 1.2 How much are you producing? producing? (per cropping cropping season) Four seasons per year. 30 to 40 beds. Dry season limits crops Clay is better in dry season because it retains more water, sandy does not do well Choose crop according to soil type Jan to April is the dry season, rain the rest o the year Why do you arm? (Interviewees o one ocus group numbered 1-6 or note-taking purposes) 6. Learned agriculture rom parents, the only trade he knows Used to share plot with someone else but the other person let and now he has it to himsel 5. Ex-MoFA Ex-MoFA employee, lost her job but let her use the land Area used to be a model arm or MoFA Family sometimes helps her 4. Inherited practice o agriculture rom ather ater elementary school Couldn’t Couldn’t nd work in the city so had to start arming 2. Started as a vacation worker while at school Ater her nished he couldn’t couldn’t nd a job but was allocated some land by the man he had been working with Got more land rom other people who let 3.Born in Ivory Coast Worked with an Israeli who let during confict and then he had no work Came to Ghana and got into arming because his amily was arming 1. Born in Gabon


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Came to see a relative in Ghana, relative was old but brought him to meet a man who used to arm at Dzorwulu Also works in security at night Makes more as a armer because he gets money aster (in 3 days) Is this true or others? Can take a long l ong time or crops to grown and that they can go months without income (2 or 3 months) How much they make in a season? (3 months) 200-300 in a good season but could go down to 100 i things don’t go well Some might get more, depends on type o crop, demand, quality and size o land 1.3 Do you eat your vegetables vegetables or sell them? They eat some o the crops. All the produce is to sell and they eat some o the vegetables themselves. 1.4 How long have you been arming arming in Dzorwulu? How long are you you planning on staying? 18 to 20, 30, 15, 25. One translator and Angelina was there rom the beginning. The young ones were there or two years, the other two or less than one year. 1.5 Were you arming beore beore that somewhere else? How did you start arming? And why? No. They started as a part par t time basis (the translator said that he was a student) and know they are ull time. Some who used to go and learn arming techniques ater school when they were younger. 1.6 How much time do you spend arming? arming? (per day, per week) They start rom 6 or 7 am to 7 pm. And they can do that because they can pray there. They arm everyday and generally on a Sunday as well although sometimes they will take this o. 1.7 What are the benets benets to arming? They get ood or themselves, or lie, l ie, or everything, school ees, income, enjoy arming (woman nodded).

1.8 How did you get this land? Do you have have enough land? Woman – rom MOFA. She preers how things are now. Their athers let it to them and beore this it was the Ministry that gave it to them. 1.9 Seasonal practices: types o crops, irrigation, irrigation, crop patterns It is demand orientated most o the times (sometimes it depends o the season): they target scarcity in the market and they produce that. They target it individually.


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Physical Site 2.1Where does it food? Where the soil in not leveled; where the land is low. High lands are no problem. The Dzorwulu site foods the most most and can totally devastate their crops. crops. It happens roughly every 5 years. 2.2 Who has those sites? 2.3 Do you share plots? Everyone has their own plot. 2.4 Do you help/cooperate with each other? Sometimes we help each other with transplanting. No not generally, they all work individually. Not compulsory but will help i someone needs it and they are not too busy When do you hire labour? Hire or dicult work like digging and watering Employ youth rom outside that don’t have land 2.5 Do you have any other help on the site? (Ask women specically) They hire labour or the harvest. A part o the income goes to the person helping. Yes they will hire help when they need it, mostly at the tilling and digging stage, this is not the hardest stage but is when there is the most work to do. do. The machinery they use is hand hoes hoes and knapsacks or spraying pesticides. pesticides. They also have water pumps that they share per pond(?) 2.6 Do you use any equipment to keep you sae? Not all o them Not all wear it even though they have the knowledge Learned rom parent’s that they didn’t need to: “Cultural “Cultural practices inherited” – translator Now that they are sensitized they are trying to start 2.7 Do you have any problems with thet? Not anymore because there are people living in the site. There is no problem with thet there used to be but then they became organized amongst themselves and it doesn’t happen anymore. Was a problem in the 90s when commodities were scarce but since 2000 it is not a problem


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They ambushed and arrested some o them Homeless youth sleep nearby and keep an eye on the site Level o Organization 3.1 Are you part par t o the Dzorwulu Vegetable Farmers Farmers Association? Why or why not? (Perceived (Perceived benets, is it useul) Older armers o one group were members, but the young were not because they were new but that they are ready join anytime. (Observation: we noticed the translator explaining to one o the youngsters what was the association and about the monthly dues.) “We share ideas and to take decision together. together. We get government assistance: oce give training and sometimes money” They meet twice a month under the tree. They all agree on how to spend the money. Not everybody is in the association, present at the interview were the chairman, organizer and members. members. They all pay their monthly dues and they said there was no more problem with collecting the dues. 3. Is member because he ound a relative in the Association, to get inormation and inputs, government subsidizes ertilizers and it is easier to access through the association, buy big bags together and share them, one person collects the money and buys it 3.2 What role do you play (i they are part o the organization)? What does that role do? The translator – treasurer. There were some executives, like a committee. 3.3 How are monthly dues used? Monthly dues are 1 ghana cedis and they are collected and deposited in the bank. They back the knapsacks knapsa cks and sprayers (but the pesticide and gloves, boots are bought individually.) 3.4 Is the und working well? Why or why not? Some people don’t pay because they have no money but they always nd the way to pay back, like when they are buying the communal tools they chip in. The relie support – works outside the association and money is given to help with wedding and uneral expenses. 3.5 Does the Association represent the armers with the government or other groups? They have a close relationship with IWMI and MOFA. The relationship with MOFA is good because they have easy contact with them through the Extension Ocer. They used to go to the AMA oces oces or meetings which does not happen anymore. Ocers will come to the site and they will talk to them then but it is not as regular as it used to be. 3.6 What is the relationship with AWGUPA? AWGUPA? Do you think you have infuence?


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They said they work with FSTT, they said they contributed to the ‘working group’ but were unsure as to what AWGUPA was. 3.7 Do you have contact with other groups or armers? Yes, but they meet very irregularly. The translator couldn’t remember when they met the last time. To To share knowledge. k nowledge. They meet with the Roman Ridge armers association sometimes. Share knowledge through the Association? Knowledge comes rom researchers and outsiders Then the armers gather together in meetings, learn and talk together (this discussion done through the Association) 3.8 Do you share tools? Do you share tools with people outside the Association? Economics 4.1 How well is business going? Dierent opinions: the translator started complaining but then the woman said it sometimes good sometimes bad. According to the season. During the dry dr y season the size o the beds are reduced because o crop damage. The price o the market are not xed and because the sizes o the beds are dierent it makes it more dicult. They said they make more money in the dry season and there are problems with fooding in the rainy season. The group were all ull time armers and had no other jobs. 4.2 How could you improve it? FSTT – programme between IWMI and Enterprise works that is just starting to improve business. They have problems with not enough land, poor seeds that they also have to pay or, or, there is also a problem o marketing. I everyone grows lettuce then the price o lettuce will crash. The market women dominate the pricing o vegetables as i they don’t buy rom them the crops will go to waste, the armers do not dictate the price. I an individuals crop ails they go to the association and they will help them out. out. Everyone pays the same amount in monthly monthly dues. 4.3 Do you need loans? They use their own pocket money or investments. I they had the money they would buy pesticides and chemicals. To get more land because the amily is growing. 4.4 Do you receive any support rom the government? 4.5 Do you have any other unding/loans? For what? Water 5.1 Where do you get your water? Piped and stream water. In raining season is also needed because the soil dries up very quickly.


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From the tap and rom the stream. stream. The pipe water is better but it is unreliable, then they will go to the stream. stream. They only use water rom the pipe and stream, no other water sources. Only some have access Some are using stream i they are close Why? Costly Water company company wants to use the scarce water or domestic and industrial use Availability o piped water is unreliable (some is stored) Stream is sometimes more reliable and closer 5.2 I they use wastewater, wastewater, why? Do you see benets? 5.3 Do you collect rainwater? Only through the ponds (unintentionally). 5.4 How did the site get access to piped water? How long have you had it? They get it rom the Ghana Water and Sewerage. The access was there since the Ministry but they have gotten more. They pay or the installation. It was already on the site when they started arming. They get a monthly bill and everyone who uses this water pays equally. They maintain the pipe themselves. themselves. 5.5 Is the water rom the pipe reliable? Not very reliable 5.6 Is the piped water clean? 5.7 Who maintains the pipes? Among them they have plumbers that x the pipes when it is needed. They mentioned that they use piped water to ll the ponds. 5.8 Do you want to have access to the piped water? Why? 5.9 Who pays or the water? How do you share the cost? They pay or the water monthly dierent rates and they have a meter. 5.10 What are the ponds or? How are they managed? The ponds are collective and depends on distance o plot rom the pond. They are shared. Level o Knowledge about Sustainable Techniques 6.1 Do you grow certain crops together? Why? For what benet?


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They do not mix radish with the others because the leaves are to big. They do mix cabbage and lettuce. They plant the lettuce rst and later they put the cabbage (so that they can maximize the use o the land.) They also do it with onion and lettuce. They look at the market and decide which crops to plant. I there are a lot o certain types o pest they won’t plant certain crops. 6.2 Did you learn about ab out pest control rom the Farmer’s Farmer’s Field school? Are you still using any those techniques? In the armer school they learned to use neem tree, but they don’t do it because it is very dicult to use and produce. The woman said that they sometimes they use pepper but they don’t produce it but buy it. The chemical is easy to get and easy to apply but it is more expensive. They buy pesticides or ungi in a shop in Medina. FAO approached the association and they nominated a certain amount o armers to take part in the scheme. They elt it was partly successul and that some o the things they learnt are good good others are not practical or them. They learnt about the Nim Tree and not to kill rogs and spiders. 6.3 Is the soil ertile? What do you do to care or the soil? Chicken manure is good or the soil and the chemicals are not, but they are good to spray on the plants. Some is better than others, the soil is constantly in use and some o the areas are salty. I the soil is not so good it is because it is used constantly. They have less land and thereore have have to grow continuously. continuously. They use manure a lot as the ertilizer is expensive. 6.4 Are you experimenting with any new techniques? The Extension Ocers teach them new techniques 6.5 Are there any animals or insects on the site? What do they do? Pests- snails, birds. ungi. There are rogs but they don’t bother. Level o knowledge on ertilizers (bio and non) and use o compost 7.1 What type o ertilizers do you use? And why? Where do you get it rom? The ertilizers are expensive and they only receive a coupon once a year, year, the ertilizer they get rom this lasts only about a bout 2 months. They get 1 coupon per armer, armer, which MoFA MoFA come and give to them, it gives gives them hal price or 1 bag. Ater this they have to buy more themselves 7.2 Do you have any problems with the ertilizer you are using? (observe or perceptions on health risks during application and consumption o vegetables, cost, easy to access) They have no problem with health problem with the manure. But the manure is now scarce. Beore they used to bring it to the arm and give it or ree, but now they are charging and this year it is scarce and expensive. They They pay 1 cedis per pack. They don’t use saety measures but they are trying tr ying to change.


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They know that when they use ertilizer it destroys the soil quality. quality. They like to use manure but i it is not always available they have to use ertilizer. ertilizer. Poultry armers used to be nearby and then poultry armers moved moved out o Accra. Accra. Manure is cheaper but is harder to access. Access to ertilizer is not regular, big armers buy more ertiliser. The armers are aware o the health risks o using the chemicals, none experience problems at the moment but they worry about the uture. There is not enough gloves to go round round (80% use no gloves) there is also a lack o education on saety techniques. 7.3 Why don’t don’t you use compost? (Or why i they do?) Explain what compost is i they don’t know It is a waste o time because they are not ready to do it. Lack o vegetable waste and i this would be available they would do it. They have been taught how to do it. Explain what compost is i they don’t know They said that they could use compost but that it is time consuming and that it takes up water 7.4 Would you be interested in using compost? I they have access to the inputs then they would do it. Inormation about home communities 8.1 Where do you live? They all lived closed by except the woman who is rom La. She doesn’t have land there to arm. Most o them live nearby and the travel time is between 10mins to 1 hour (1 armer said he travelled or 2 hours) 6. Ebony, 10 - 15 minute walk 5. Kotobai – 30 minutes walk 4. Ebony – 10 minutes walk 3. Mamobi – 15 minutes on bike 2. Kotobai – 15 minutes walk 1. 30 minutes on tro-tro rom night job 8.2 How long does it take to get there? It takes her 30 minutes. 8.3 How do you get there? By tro tro. They get a truck, cars (not clear i they are there own) or they walk. 8.4 Is there waste collection there? I not, what do you do with the waste? There is a dumping site in their neighbourhood and the government comes to collect it every three days. They have waste collection and it is better than beore but is still not good.


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8.5 Are there other armers in your community? Yes. No one arms at home there is not enough space, sometimes they produce produce seedlings at home. Some people might have small areas but nothing substantial. 8.6 What do the women in your amily do? Come o them sell the vegetables. Others do clothes and they sell them at their shops. They preer their children to go to school where they also teach agriculture. They preer that they work in the government but that i they liked to plant pl ant then they would give the land to them. The woman didn’t know i she was going to give the land to her sons. Demographic inormation 9.1 Age They were 4 youngsters, and 4 older people. 9.2 Gender 6 men and 1 woman. 9.3 Ethnicity 9.4 Religion Most o them are Muslims. 9.5 Family: members o household 9.6 Level o Education Conclusion 10.1 What do you think is the main problem? The market systems and that the chemicals are not good and that they are damaging the crops. Government support – the government does not support them at all. The support they need is more more land and extra chemicals as they are expensive. expensive. In the rainy season some o the site is totally inaccessible. No aid or arming inputs inputs and all o the government stores are now privatized. Roman Ridge started to replace arms with buildings. 10.2 What do you need to improve the site or your arming? They need assistances like equipment and machinery to make work less intensive and easier. 10.3 What do you like about being a armer? It is good because it is about eeding the nation and people, and it helps in many ways because it is easy way o employment because and it is they ’re own business and that they are very happy. One youngster liked it because he could eed himsel and buy clothes.


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Farming is quick money and that there is no other work they can do. They eed their amilies and have independence, they are their own boss. Also they are helping to eed eed Accra and even Kumasi Kumasi as well. 1 armer had ambitions to be a big time armer. armer. People liked their products products because they don’t use so much much ertilizer. ertilizer. Although their vegetables are are marketed the same as other vegetables, people wouldn’t wouldn’t believe that it is not grown without chemicals. There is competition rom villages and rom Togo. The water issue is talked about a bout on the radio a lot, the armers are told not to use piped water and waste water. water. They have no relationship with the local dwellers but there waste pollutes the stream. They don’t know what will happen with the arm tomorrow, eel insecure. insecure. People come to see the site and the armers sometimes turn them away as they are sick o them.

Waste hypothesis ocus group discussion with armers on May 07. Participation and Community Groups Peace and Love Youth Youth Group: watch dogs against crime, community clean up, they have an organizational structure Also political and religious groups: one man said he was a member o a political group Waste in Community Zoomlion is supposed to pick up waste but they are not reliable and don’t clean the area Come around once a week Pay 10 to 20 pesewas per bag dumped to AMA To solve waste problem: Thought there should be more and better paid employees One said that they need to take responsibility themselves because not all people are tak ing care o the garbage well “We all need to clean up, put the garbage where it goes and keep it clean” Don’t have anyone to complain to, the Assembly man and MP will tell you to talk to someone else Dierent types o ertilizers Everyone uses NPK 15/15 Use manure when it is available but now that the arms are ar it’s hard to get (transportation is a problem) Spending more now on transport and getting less Women are the ones who go to get poultry manure and resell it to the armers (buy at 50 and sell at 80) Chemical ertilizer makes the plants grow aster but manure is better or the soil Manure or dry season and chemical or wet Waste rom the arm is sometimes thrown into an inormal compost heap and sometimes given to armers with rabbits or eed Do compost their chicken manure (leave it or a month because it’s hot when it arrives) No one had used compost rom the old plant because it was not available Some know about compost, some don’t Only one had experimented with composting Would use compost i it was available but it doesn’t make the plants grow ast so they would still use chemical ertilizer Could use compost in the wet season but not in the dry season: takes too much water (Interview with secretary: turn some grass back into the soil)


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Community Composting Would be good to have community composting as long as there was enough and at a good price Might be able to stop using ertilizer i they could get good compost because ertilizer spoils the land Main problem is transport so i it could be made close and the price was the same as manure they would use it Transport Transport rom community would not be a problem, bring things to the site every day Couldn’t speak to whether the community would be interested in composting, would need to go and speak to them directly: best to go through Assembly man Didn’t eel like they had enough infuence to bring it to the community, would need someone else to implement it Do regular inormal community clean ups Community would be willing to sort it but thought someone else should pick it up and transer it to the composting plant

Water hypothesis ocus group group discussion with armers on May 07. Farmers Farmers present in the ocus group: Mohammed Ali, Aruha, Margaret, Mununi, Yakoum, Yakoum, Karim, Ali Jouse, Bukari Fusaini. Question: How do you eel about using piped water? Mununi: tap water is good, because he can use it during the night Fusaini: disadvantage, interruptions o water, rationalize the water because o insecurity, cannot utilize it as he wants, nds it expensive Margaret: piped water is very good, because there are no problems with it on crops although it is expensive Yakoumi: piped water is good because o its cleanliness and purity Karim: its good because its resh and clean as contrasted to the waste water which is dirty Mohammed Ali: it’s good because it doesn’t carry any diseases and because you only have to wash once ater arming in contrast to washing twice when using waste water Question: Is the high price o piped water worth its advantages? Margaret: even though it is costly it is advantages, because you can cause it at any time o the day and there is advantage when you compare it to rate and output. Munini: at a point in time you plant things and the output is not so good (interrupted), but you still have to pay or it, so the cost accumulates over time Question: How are the interruptions in provision o piped water? Margaret: In times o shortages she has to go as ar as to the stream to irrigate and normally interruptions come during dry season when water in the dam was low or when construction work occurs and these interruptions can last three days to one week. Question: Do you want improved access o piped water? Margaret: They usually complain to MOFA or NGOs who come to us and shortages happen on monthly basis twice or thrice. Question: Alternatives? Fusaini: one borehole at each end o the arms but has not been operated on because the water was salty, because they dug to deep. They connected it to electricity, but they didn’t put in the pip es Question: Do you have to pay or the connection?


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Fusaini: No, it’s or ree. Question: Who realized this project? Fusaini: The The government set up the project, but each individual armer has to install pipes to the arm Question: When did you start using the ponds? Margaret: The reason why it came into the place was when one person was using the tap no one else can use it, so they ll it during the night to be able to etch water at any time. Fusaini: The waste settles with gravity Question: Do you mix piped water and stream water within one pond? Haruna, Margaret, Mununi: dierent ponds or both, no combining, keep them dierent, because they create the ponds close to the source (tap or stream) Question: What are the advantages and disadvantages o waste water? Haruna: his body looks bad, when he etches the water and there are leaches, Margaret: only uses piped water Mununi: aster and nicer Haruna was agreeing Yakoum: experiences good growth Others who use waste water agree, not Margaret, because she doesn’t doesn’t use piped water Question: How about awareness programmes? All o them agree that they have been educated in waste water handling Margaret: how to etch the water, put weeds in ponds Mununi: stop watering three days beore harvesting Hanuna: only uses piped water Fusaini: stops watering two days beore harvesting, the watering should not stir water, he uses pump to etch water without stepping into it Question: What do you think about the policy regarding waste water? Fusaini: Policy is not avourable, is very harsh, because on one side they don’t support piped water except or domestic or industrial, mentiones GWC is not happy about armers using piped water and urban armers have no alternative, measures should be taken so armers can use it Mununi: it was harsh and trouble to urban armers i the government doesn’t allow the use Question: In how ar did you business was infuenced by the negative media on the use o WW? Haruna: when they talk about it in the media it goes to the customers, the costumers become cautious and they don’t come and the market becomes minimal Margaret, Mununi: they experience a low demand in the market and that you have to lower the price because ood becomes abundant Question: What do you think about the water situation in general? Is it a big problem? Haruna: i interventions can be taken in ww to puriy it it would be helpul Fusaini: there is the need or alternative water, water, underground water, water, surace water, assess good water so we can use it, so the issue o piped water and waste water can be out, the issue o water is currently not addressed Question: Do you think the education programmes where helpul in addressing these issues? All agreed that they were not successul and that there wasn’t a major impact. Programmes should refect in public, but has not yet convinced consumers Question: Did you ever try to use the media to let the consumers know that you use sae handling methods? Fusaini: they haven’t haven’t yet discussed the issue in the association, the media came here to ask about the general aspects o their work and the ood security that it oers and they also ask about the contamination and programmes.


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Biodiversity and credit ocus group discussion with armers on May 07. Farmers present in the ocus group: Andy, Issa, Fasaini, Alida, Ibrahim, Fasaini, Alhassan, Alidu, Angelina. The proposal activity or armers, Mapping networks, to identiy groups and organisations that they relate with and characterize the relationship o the them with the armers, how close or ar is the relation. Strength o Collaboration. The rst groups that they mentioned were the Roman Ridge and Plant Pool. They mentioned that ew years ago the three groups were in one big organisation but as it didn’t work so they separated. Ater pushing the inormation, they said that they are still very close and a nd that they gather sometimes to discuss general issues like marketing and water. water. This happens once or twice a year. - In the map, they placed them really close to them. Ater that, they mentioned IWMI. They said that they meet them every two months. They work with them but not so requently. - In the map, they place IWMI close to them, but not as close as the armers. (In the second circle). Next, they mentioned Enterprise Works. They They say they have a close relationship because they are across the street. Some o the armers work with them on marketing issues. Selected members are working on FSTT programme. - They placed them closer than IWMI but arther ar ther than the other armer groups. They said that MoFA is very close to the group. They work with Delvyn. They said that they have contact with it every time they need. They appeared to be very excited about it. (OBSERVATION: (OBSERVATION: during this, Delvyn (rom MoFA) MoFA) was present. So it might have infuenced their answer.) - They almost put it under them. Closer than other armers. They said the market woman were very close. - They placed them almost as close as MoFA. MoFA. They mentioned that university students visited their arms or their own research but they didn’t identiy any relationship with them. (OBSERVATION: (OBSERVATION: they mentioned the university students ater an intervention rom Delvyn). Delv yn). They placed their card really ar rom them. Next, they mentioned Cooperative Society (Department o Cooperatives). They They said they have a distant relationship and a nd that they meet twice a year, usually people rom the Cooperative come to meet them. Similar observation was made or AWGUPA (OBSERVATION: Soa asked i they had any relationship with AWGUPA. They didn’t recognize the name, and ater Delvyn explained them who they were, they understood.) - They put them really ar away. The Agricultural Development Bank was mentioned. They said they have their account there. That is as ar as their relationship went. (OBSERVATION: (OBSERVATION: We asked them i they could give them credit or loan, they said no.)


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Second part group interview: 2.a they vote to decided how to spend the money. The use o the monthy ees, they use it to pay or arrangements that take big amounts o money. Observation: sometimes they collect money out o the ees, when they need to b uy things like ertilizers and pesticides or to xed any o the equipment they use. 2. c. Angelina: what happened when there are a proposal, she said that there is not money in the bank o the association so there is no point in propos. 3. They don’t don’t put their individual savings in the community account; they use their individual ones. Note: they would want to increase the ees, but that is not possible. 4. the deaulters are a big problem, sometimes the people don’t pay or 3 or 4 months. They try to deal with that, encouraging armers to pay. Thought Thought the treasure say that everybody every body can pay the ee amount. (Observarion: that is a contradiction to what they say on Tuesday, Tuesday, about people who can pay because o lack o money) The main problem according to the treasure is that the people don’t want to pay, 6. they need more income, they could achive that by having better organisation and getting more land. About the land they have asked to government or more land, but there is no answer yet. How that would change their lie, they say they don’t have problem with working more, about where to have the new land is a government issue, since they are the once who can provide more land. 7. They do lend money among them. 8. because o lack o understanding into the group, they don’t want to start a savings groups. Low agreement agreement on how to invest the money. Lack o understanding. Angelina: no everyone would like to have that, because they are araid that it will be no repayment. 9. they say they are happy with the administration o the association. OBSERVATION the treasurer was answering the question. 10. FSTT do: encourage and motivate people to get organise on marketing system. Now it is a They are exploring with them ideas about marking systems like packaging and selling direct to restaurant. They would like to have loans to expand to buy chemicals and water pumping machine. They identiy as the FST T, cooperative society, IDB and IWMI as organisations that could give them credit.


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Biodiversity hypothesis ocus group discussion with armers on May 09. Which would you put together and why? Spring onion and lettuce - have more space to plant. Caulifower and lettuce – plant the lettuce rst get out more o the land. Cabbage and lettuce – to get out more o the land. Where did you learn that? They needed to nd a way around the act that land is too small. They know dierent techniques rom long time ago, sometimes rom their athers. When you learn something new, how do you share it with other armers? You go and tell another armer “Try this”, this”, and then he tells another. another. (Word ( Word o mouth, snowball strategy) When you do intercropping, do the market women buy both vegetables? Can they only buy one? I so, who harvests them? They don’t need to buy the two vegetables. In this case, the armers do the harvest themselves. The market women come rom Kaneshi and Medina market. How do you negotiate with the market women? Depending on the season. Dry season: lettuce, onions, carrots, beetroot, cucumber, cucumber, white radish, coriander. Wet season: caulifower, lettuce, cucumber, radish, coriander, beetroot. Intercropping When introduced to other biodiversity techniques, the armers said that they wouldn’t mix the crops in one bed but they would be willing to plant around the bed or one bed – one bed, hal – hal, etc. They were very interested and willing to try. Questions Did you already know that? Do you think this could be helpul? Would you consider trying it? I it works, would you tell your riends? Yes, they would share it with their riends and that they will also go to other communities. Food security a. How much much o your income do you you spend on ood? ood? They all said that “A “A lot”. lot”. Their income is not xed and they get it seasonally so it was hard to get an actual percentage.


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b. Which o the vegetables vegetables that you produce produce do you take home? Very little. Spring onion, carrots, cucumber, cucumber, beetroot, caulifower. caulifower. They are not used to the rest o the crops. c.

Do you think it would would be good to to reserve a small space space in your plot to plant crops crops or sel-consumption? sel-consumption? Crops like corn and beans. They said it was better to buy because they had no more land. d. Do you eat eat any ruits? ruits? Which Which ruits? Where do you get them? (They do eat the ruits rom the trees in the bushes.) b ushes.) e. What do you think o the bushes or trees there? They said they protected the water. The The trees oer shade. .

Would you like to plant bananas or papaya there there so you could could take ruit home? home?

g. Do you think this would be a way o using the unused space o the arm? arm? They buy their seeds rom their Agroseed Company, and that sometimes they keep them resh and they last or up to a year.


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APPENDix F: TRANSECT wALk REPORT

Topic

Comments

Description o Route

Along the stream to Roman Ridge, across the site to the railway tracks below the ootball pitch, across the bridge past the high white ence to the road.

Physical Space Division/size o plots Facilities Facilities on site Activities Areas which food Storage o crops Storage o ertilizers

Varied depending on each individual armer, some have more land than others. The general observation o plot sizes are same and vary approx. in between 0.25 acre-0.75 Some shelters and shade rom trees, also places to sit and a shower. Fertilizer lying around No crop storage but sheds to store tools Walking paths Football pitch used by children rom the area Women have hal the size o the standard size Dzorwulu and Roman Ridge divided by a palm Flooding happens every year during rainy season but only in the low areas Fork – saw many, made rom bent rebar also using plow to remove the soil. Knapsacks to apply chemicals are shared Pumps, hoses and water cans to irrigate. Seems to be additional helpers at the eld Farmers share equipment, mainly the ertilizer pump Sprayers – saw a ew around, the one that was being used the man had boots, mask and rubber gloves, this is not the case or all armers. Few men wearing boots and gloves to protect themselves when using ertilizers. ert ilizers. Many armers had help with their plots, mostly young boys, some amily members but not all Farmers sell straight to buyers. Market women come in the night to harvest, don’t give advance warning, take to Agobloshie market to sell to other sellers. No such techniques to reduce risk are oserved to reduce risks, though all seem to be aware o the risk.

Tools and Practices Types o tools (shared or not) Marketing practices Additional helpers Techniques to reduce mosquitos Techniques to reduce health risks


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Land Evidence o biodiversity Evidence o pests Inter-cropping

Waste Space or composting Use o ertilizer Trash in the area

Water Identiy sources o water Irrigation methods Aquatic plants # o ponds # o ponds with plants Rainwater harvesting

Birds, rogs, butterfies, other insects but don’t know i they were good or bad Some armers had mixed crops but not or pest control just or ecient use o space One armer said it gave the plants more room not to intercrop Small pits can be observed in sit. Intercropping lettuce with spring onions. There are corredors o plantane, palms and others dierent special around pounds and cannals o water between ponds. Frogs in the ponds and a general positive perception o the armers o the armers towards rogs and spiders as predators o insect. Compost heaps all over the site but not strategic, just piled waste or dirt that they use whenever they need soil Seems like there might be adequate space or some composting Plastic waste on the ground and in the piles o manure Observation o pest on caulifower , which has been said to be more vulnerable to pest by armers Manure being composted in some parts o the site. Bags o manure lying around. Impressively clean Moved with hoses and stored in ponds (even piped water sometimes stored) 3 piped water connections with sprinklers Also use watering cans or irrigation Separation between ponds used as a ltering technique. Around 6 ponds in the area. They store piped water in ponds Aquatic plants in many ponds and surrounding by trees to provide shade and prevent evaporation evaporation Ponds are surrounded by many trees such as plantains, palm, maize and others acting as corridors


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APPENDix G: QUESTiONNAiRES

Semi-structured questionnaire or ocus ocus group with armers on May 05. Introduction 1.1 What are you growing? 1.2 How much are you producing? producing? (per cropping cropping season) 1.3 Do you eat your vegetables vegetables or sell them? 1.4 How long have you been arming arming in Dzorwulu? How long are you you planning on staying? 1.5 Were you arming beore beore that somewhere else? How did you start arming? And why? 1.6 How much time do you spend arming? arming? (per day, per week) 1.7 What are the benets benets to arming? 1.8 How did you get this land? Do you have have enough land? 1.9 Seasonal practices: types o crops, irrigation, irrigation, crop patterns Physical Site 2.1Where does it food? 2.2 Who has those sites? 2.3 Do you share plots? 2.4 Do you help/cooperate with each other? 2.5 Do you have any other help on the site? (Ask women specically) 2.6 Do you use any equipment to keep you sae? 2.7 Do you have any problems with thet? Level o Organization 3.1 Are you part par t o the Dzorwulu Vegetable Farmers Farmers Association? Why or why not? (Perceived (Perceived benets, is it useul) 3.2 What role do you play (i they are part o the organization)? What does that role do? 3.3 How are monthly dues used? 3.4 Is the und working well? Why or why not? 3.5 Does the Association represent the armers with the government or other groups? 3.6 What is the relationship with AWGUPA? AWGUPA? Do you think you have infuence? 3.7 Do you have contact with other groups or armers? 3.8 Do you share tools? Do you share tools with people outside the Association? Economics 4.1 How well is business going? 4.2 How could you improve it? 4.3 Do you need loans? 4.4 Do you receive any support rom the government? 4.5 Do you have any other unding/loans? For what? Water 5.1 Where do you get your water? 5.2 I they use waste water, water, why? Do you see benets?


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5.3 Do you collect rainwater? 5.4 How did the site get access to piped water? How long have you had it? 5.5 Is the water rom the pipe reliable? 5.6 Is the piped water clean? 5.7 Who maintains the pipes? 5.8 Do you want to have access to the piped water? Why? 5.9 Who pays or the water? How do you share the cost? 5.10 What are the ponds or? How are they managed? Level o Knowledge about Sustainable Techniques 6.1 Do you grow certain crops together? Why? For what benet? 6.2 Did you learn about ab out pest control rom the Farmer’s Farmer’s Field school? Are you still using any those techniques? 6.3 Is the soil ertile? What do you do to care or the soil? 6.4 Are you experimenting with any new techniques? 6.5 Are there any animals or insects on the site? What do they do? Level o knowledge on ertilizers (bio and non) and use o compost 7.1 What type o ertilizers do you use? And why? Where do you get it rom? 7.2 Do you have any problems with the ertilizer you are using? (observe or perceptions on health risks during application and consumption o vegetables, cost, easy to access) 7.3 Why don’t don’t you use compost? (Or why i they do?) Explain what compost is i they don’t know 7.4 Would you be interested in using compost? Inormation about home communities 8.1 Where do you live? 8.2 How long does it take to get there? 8.3 How do you get there? 8.4 Is there waste collection there? I not, what do you do with the waste? 8.5 Are there other armers in your community? 8.6 What do the women in your amily do? Demographic inormation 9.1 Age 9.2 Gender 9.3 Ethnicity 9.4 Religion 9.5 Family: members o household 9.6 Level o Education Conclusion 10.1 What do you think is the main problem? 10.2 What do you need to improve the site or your arming? 10.3 What do you like about being a armer?


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Semi-structured questionnaire or interviews with armers on May 09. Demographic inormation Age Gender Ethnicity/Where are you rom? How did you rst hear about the Dzorwulu site? Religion Family: members o household Level o Education Changes that have taken place over time What changes have occurred since you’ve been arming here? (people, practices, land, organization) Land Tenure Have you ever been evicted? Do you eel secure on this land? H3: Where do you see yoursel in 10 years? Perceptions Perceptions o main problems and how they would solve them What do you think is the main problem? What do you need to improve the site or your arming? What do you like about being a armer? Waste Explain the idea to reduce waste and use it as an input or arming 1. Have you you heard about compost compost rom other people on the site? 2. What are the benets? (Do they see benets to using less chemicals chemicals in terms terms o health?) 3. Do you have space on site to compost? 4. Would you mind making compost compost on the site? 5. Do you see any problems with its production? 6. I you had good good compost, compost, what other ertilizers would you use? 7. Do you hire labour? labour? For For how many hours? How much much are they paid? Will introduction o compost have an eect on the income o the women armers? Land questions: 1. Where do you get your seeds rom? 2. How much do do the market women women give you or 1 bed o lettuce and how much do you think the market women will sell it or? 3. Do you always sell the vegetables vegetables to the same market women? women? 4. How long have you been selling to those people? (i they sell to the same people regularly) regularly)


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5. Are they your amily or your riends? 6. Do you borrow money rom rom them? them? Has this ever caused you a problem? 7. Do you ever discuss the prices with other armers and agree agree beore beore you sell to the market women? Do you think this would be a good thing to happen? 8. Do you think Dzorwulu vegetables vegetables are o better quality than other places? I you think this do you you think you you could get more money or them at the market by branding them dierently? 9. Do you ever think to keep a small part o o the site site to grow ood just or yourselves? yourselves? Such as corn, corn, plantain, papaya, okra, beans etc I they say no, ask them why not. 10. How much o what you earn earn do you spend on ood? Water 1. Do you know about the ertilizer character character o using WW? I yes, do you think you need need less chemical ertilizers ertilizers i you use WW? 2. For WW users: Do you wear rubber boots or gloves gloves when handling WW? I not, why? 3. Do you have any any expenses on treating treating your skin ater using WW? 4. Have you ever participated in a Sae WW handling programme? programme? Which? Was it useul? 5. Do you use any any other methods to to handle WW saely? (get it out out o the pond, not putting it on vegs eaten raw, raw, put it on vegs eaten raw in a careul way/ not splashing) 6. Did MoFA MoFA ask you to pay or electricity electricity or the boreholes? boreholes? Did they talk to to you about the boreholes, beore beore building them? How is the water quality in boreholes? 7. AWGUPA: AWGUPA: have you heard o a group o NGOs, government and a armer rom Dzorwulu getting together or a meeting discussing the change o the policy on the use o WW? 8. Do you pay domestic domestic or commercial commercial rate or piped-water? piped-water? How much do you pay per month and how do you split it up individually? 9. Is water water shortage in the eld the same as in your your home? 10. Have you ever thought about the association meeting with market women and discussing the labeling o their products, since it has been grown with piped water? 11. What would you like to improve improve on the site?

Semi-structured questionnaire or interviews with market women on May 09. 1. Do you always sell in this market? a. Do you you need to pay something something to sell here? here? 2. How many days are you here? a. From what time to what time? 3. What do you like about selling vegetables in the market?


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4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Do you sell any particular crop according to the dry or the rain season? Do you get get higher prices prices in one season than the other or the same vegetable vegetable and in general? How do you negotiate the price price o the vegetables? How do you pay or or 1 bed bed o lettuce? lettuce? On how how much will will you sell it? How do you bring the stu to the market? How much does does that cost? Do you need storage? storage? How much much do you pay pay or that? What are the main sites/arms you go to buy? a. Do you always buy the vegetables vegetables rom rom the same armers/site? armers/site? b. How long have you been buying rom them? c. Are they your amily or your riend? d. Do you you trust them to to lend lend them money? 11. How do you choose the area area where you buy your vegetables? 12. Do you see any dierence in the vegetables depending on their source? source? 13. Do you harvest the vegetables? a. Does someone help with you with that? b. Do you pay or that? 14. I you buy the vegetables rom rom Dzorwulu, do you say they are rom rom Dzorwulu? 15. Do they sell better? Organization 16. Is there a market market women association? association? a. Do you need to pay a monthly monthly dues? b. How are these used? c. What benets does it bring to be part o the association? 17. Have you got got any loans? a. Where did you get them? b. What do you spend your loans on? c. Do you have problems with repayment? Income 18. Is your husband a armer? armer? a. Do you sell your husbands’ vegetables? b. I so, so, how how do do they divide the income? income? c. Do you buy rom rom other armers in your husband’s sites? 19. Have you considered considered processing the ood? ood? 20. How do you spend your income? income? Organic 21. What do you do with the waste rom the market? 22. What things aect aect the quality o vegetables? vegetables? a. Does the use o ertilizer aect it? 23. Could you get a better price or organic? organic? 24. Would you pay pay a higher rate or organic? organic? 25. Do you ever market any dierences in vegetable quality? (e.g. Would Would you sell vegetables that were watered with piped water (organic, ertilizer, etc.) higher than those that were watered with waste water (non-organic, chemicals, etc.) 26. I they make the price more expensive, expensive, does it justiy the price? price?


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Water 27. Do you wash your vegetables beore beore you sell them? a. Why and what water do you use? 28. Have you ever had problems problems with ood contamination? contamination? 29. Have you ever had programmes on how to reduce or avoid contamination o vegetables on the market? By whom? 30. What do you think about the water water used by armers in general and in Dzorwulu in particular? 31. Do you pay armers who use piped-water more than armers who use wastewater or irrigation? irrigation? 32. What did you hear about the water used by armers in newspaper, radio and TV? 33. What do you think about armers using piped-water piped-water when there is a water water shortage in the city? 34. What do you think about the extension ocers o the Public Health Ministry? (Do they provide any programmes? How oten do you see them? Are they useul?)

Semi-structured questionnaire or interviews with local dwellers on May 12. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

How are they paying or waste? How oten do you dump a bag o garbage? How How much per month? Would you you be willing separate separate your waste i you could could pay less to dump dump it? What would they be willing to pay? Where do they think there might be space in their community community to compost? Assess easibility easibility o employing employing a local dweller to pick up the compost? What do you think o the armers? What do they look or when when buying vegetables? Do they eat them right away?


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APPENDix h: iNTERviEw TRANSCRiPTS

Interviewee: Facilitator - Delvine Date: May 04 Place: Paloma Hotel Financial – armers collect ‘monthly dues’ paid paid to the armers association, which are used or • Common machinery for farming production specically ‘knapsack spray machine’ (approx 25 cedis each) • Maintenance of any commonly purchased machinery • Used for social events – specically mentioned funerals Women are members o the association and use the commonly purchased goods. Market women control the selling o produce in the market and it’s hard or armers to sell their own produce. Women armers use the same techniques as the male armers and they only use piped water, because the stream is ar away rom rom their site. The market women will will make more money than armers. The prices are set by ree market principles, and the armers sell by the bed. Farmers are concerned with producing goods not with other business to do with agriculture. The association can help with arranging the price o crops i-e potentially raising the price to increase income. FSTT deals with the issues o marketing, pricing their products and the economic aspects o the whole agricultural process. process. This is a project being undertaken at the moment. Financing is needed to produce higher income crops, so that more prot can be made. IE cabbage is more protable but needs more investment. The Department o Cooperatives Cooperatives helps with training in nancial management or the Farmers Association Association Agricultural activities/material/land activities/material/land Pumping machines or pumping water rom the stream are owned and maintained individually. Each armer has between 1.077ha 1.077ha and 0.02ha. Retirement depends on their health and how the individual individual armer eels, there is no set age. There is no issue o thet as there are armers 4 or 5 armers that live on the site and guard it. Many o the armers were working working part-time and now many o them have changed to ull-time. There is a potential or a large income rom arming and this is why they have changed rom part-time. MoFA MoFA and IWMI are trying to put by-laws in place about urban agriculture. MoFA MoFA cannot give land to armers it can only assist them to obtain it. Land has to be given by the government. Plots are inherited by amily or riends riends o the armer who is leaving. I a armer is ill and has to leave his plot he must designate someone to cultivate it or him, there is no xed system in place or allocation. There is no ormal agreement initially or arming on the site however the relationship is mutually benecial as the VRA have easier access to the over head cables i agriculture is taking place on the site (it was previously very overgrown and inaccessible) MoFA MoFA originally set up the site to be used to raise seedlings that could be sold to other arms and was always thought o as a long term project. The emale armers were employees rom MoFA, MoFA, most other ex MoFA sta have let the site now partly due to a change in government party. There is no confict between armers and local dwellers; local dwellers go there to buy their vegetables. vegetables.


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There is a collaborative NGO working with the armers, IMWI and other institutions called Enterprise Works working to promote reducing poverty and increase living standards. The government introduced the subsidies as they wanted to test the subsidy system with a smaller project beore introducing it or larger inrastructure. The armers have between 10 and 50 beds and invest about 50cedis 50cedis per cropping season. They crop throughout the year and there can be up to 6 rotations/crops in a year. year. Water The groundwater is salty and would need to be treated beore use, thereore could be expensive and not practical. Rain water is not collected because there is no means to collect in place and there would be economic implications to introduce it. Rain patterns change and so they can’t depend depend on this. The armers receive individual water bills per pipe (there are about 5 pipelines) and they arrange payment o the bill amongst the armers that use each pipe. There can be a problem problem with collecting the money. money. The water ponds are a new technology not a traditional system. Nobody uses domestic waste waste water; they either collect it rom the stream or use piped water. water. When piped water runs out they use water rom the stream. Main pollutant in the stream is rom domestic use (kitchen (k itchen and bathroom water) black and grey. grey. They have plants that clean the ponds; the armers perceive them as a nuisance as t hey use a lot o water. Composting and ertilising The armers think it takes too long and is a waste o time. No community in Accra has a composting scheme. Policy makers would need to be involved in any compost scheme. There is an IWMI project in the pipeline or collecting urine and compost on the site – this project still needs the backing o the armers. The chicken manure is cheap but dicult to access, chemical ertilizers are subsidized and thus work out cheaper and easier in the long term, even though the armers are aware that chemical ertilizer can weaken the soil. The chicken manure is obtained rom many many dierent areas areas and there is no cooperation amongst the chicken manure producers, they have to transport it back by commercial transport. The government has subsidies or ertilizer ertilizer and ammonia. This comes in the orm o a coupon which is given to each armer; they can then take this coupon to a dealer and pay any extra amount that is needed. Extension ocers give advice about the use o ertilizers. The IPM was a 2 way program, the armers are expected to use natural means or pest management and made aware o other techniques other than using chemicals. The armers are aware o the benets o IPM and use some o the techniques. They don’t use all o them because the armer’s mentality can be that they need a quick solution to their problems problems due to short cropping season. There is need or requently requently changing techniques and the armers perceive it as time consuming and not eective as they are continuously cropping. Gender Family members will come and help armers at the weekend and will occasionally hire arm hands to help them. Although emale members members o the amily tend to not be included in this, emale armers don’t sell their own produce in the market. The armers won’t won’t let women be leaders due to their Muslim culture. culture. Some o the armers have come rom Burkina Faso.


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Conclusions In Dzorwulu there are problems with water, water, land and nancial support. They have received received some credit that a student helped them to access.

Interviewee: Chairman o the Association Date: May 07 Place: Dzorwulu Site There is area available or composting but the time taken or composting is too long. 1-1 ½ months. It also takes time to prepare the compost and time to turn it and add more water. It also takes a lot o time to get compost good or the soil. Learn about the practice o composting. Had a site set aside on his site or experimenting with compost. Benets to the soil was only seen about 2 years later with bigger lettuce. However armers can’t aord to think in long terms. Farmers need money quickly. I you do it you may not need ertilizer but can take a year. Farmer’s Farmer’s need to see how it works in practice not just be told about benets. At the moment they are trying to pay back the loans they got through the students. The money/loan was given at a time when the costs o chemical ertilizers were high. It ’s used to buy seeds and chemicals. Interactions with government – At one point attempted to access part o over 200 acres o land which was available through the government. They didn’t get it. They want to work and want help to work but are not getting any help rom the government. The armers make much better prots in the dry season. Also when there is a shortage o seeds armers can make better prots. Seeds at the moment are bought rom places such as AgroCentral. Need education on how to save seeds. It is a very tricky process to harvest seeds eectively and many armers do not know how. The education education that is received received rom the extension ocers can sometimes be questioned. The extension ocers a lot o time don’t know enough about what the armer’s do. They can end up educating the extension ocer rather than the other way round. Many times the problems that they have such as with pests and the type o pests that need to be analysed on specic crops is not ollowed up by the relevant authorities.


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Farmers need better education about how to keep chemicals as well and use them. Many years back there was a scare about armer’ armer ’s being killed rom using a certain kind o ertilizer/ ert ilizer/ chemical which was eventually banned. Previously armers wer were e in a big co-operative and it allowed more armer to armer interactions whereas now this doesn’t happen. Thinks the bigger co-operative had benets that the smaller co-operative didn’t. Was able to go to other armers’ sites in Accra and learn directly rom other armers. Hoping that the armers can still learn collectively through the smaller co-operative. Other organizations and institutions who come to the armers with ideas are sometimes impractical. They eel that they do it in the school while the armers do it in the eld and they are very dierent. What works there doesn’t necessarily work on the arm. There is a need or armer’s to practice and experiment rst.

Interviewee: Secretary o the Association Date: May 07 Place: Dzorwulu Site The education received rom the government to the cooperative and armers were mainly on the ormation o the co-operative through the department o co-operatives and they also received a subsidization o ertilizers by the govt. Coupon system, one coupon or each sack. Received unding/loan unding/loan help rom a lecturer at the University o Ghana who had been sending students there or a while and noticed that nances and access to credit were needed. Financed Financed 19/26 which are used as individual loans. Loans were spent on inputs. When inputs went high the armers were unable to increase their produce to compensate. They also were unable to get ertilizers since the price o oil was also high. He has never tried to use compost but would. He uses poultry manure and leaves it or one month ater getting it to allow proper decomposition to happen. He normally incorporates arm waste back into the soil by leaving it on top o the bed to decompose. decompose. Inorganic ertilizer use – receives a good result in the very short term. 2-3 weeks to see a result Organic ertilizer use – keeps longer in the soil maintains benets or a longer time Poultry manure previously done in the areas very close to Dzorwulu. Then the AMA byelaws halted poultry rearing within the area due to complaints about the smell and it moved to the peri-urban area. Transportation Transportation is now a problem and there are very ew people acting as intermediaries to assist this. Some o the women armers on the site are acting as intermediaries and selling the compost to other armers. Still t hough it’s dicult to buy enough manure. There is a problem with waste in the community he’s he’s rom. I garbage could be separated it could be a good


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source o material or composting. Sorting o waste is a new concept or Ghanaians but it can work. At the moment there are not separate bins. I another bin were provided or households to separate waste it would be easier. easier. An intermediary could then come in and play the role needed to compost the waste. Feels the system now with a smaller decentralized co-operative is better than beore with the larger group, which covered the whole o Accra. The larger group had problems in getting people to meet at one location. It also had problems with sharing incomes received amongst people. Smaller organization is also easier to manage and works better because everybody knows each other. other.

Interviewee: Farmer - Malik Abdoulai Date: May 09 Place: Dzorwulu Site Male He inherited his plot rom his grandather Muslim Didn’t want to speciy his age. He has been in Dzorwulu or 5 years. He has never been evicted. He considers that the main problem is that chemicals are very expensive. He is rom Burkina Faso and he goes there very oten. He likes to arm. His parents were armers too. He does some inormal composting. He digs and puts his stu. He leaves it or 5 or 6 months and then he uses it. He also uses chemicals but he knows k nows they’re not good or the soil; he doesn’t like using them. He buys his seeds at Medina. He plants lettuce, onions, cucumber. He has sold to the same market women or the last 4 to 5 years. They are neither riends nor amily. He bargains the price with the market women. When asked about the quality o the vegetables rom Dzorwulu, he just replied that the quality o his products was better because he planted them. He does take some crops back home. He reckoned that he spent a lot in ood. He also said that t hat school ees are very expensive. expensive. They give ood to his children at school. He only uses piped water because stream water is dicult or him to access. He thinks he has enough supply o piped water. water. He would like to cultivate maize and ground nuts.


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Interviewee: Farmer - Alassa Idkissy Date: May 09 Place: Dzorwulu Site 39 years old, rom Boku (northern Ghana), Muslim, 7 people hh (including him), education: class 4, lives in Mamobi Farms in Dzorwulu because he lives close and because his ather did, during the raining season he is cultivating maize in central Ghana (this is where he got experience on composting) Q Changes: Little changes over time, loans rom organisations, govt coupons or ertilizers Land Tenure: 1 No 2 yes 3 stop arming, able to have money to establish a small table top market (not vegetables), relaxing, land will be handed over to son or grandson, maybe livestock raising Perceptions & main problems 1 every business or job has problems, number one problem is marketing, market women pricing o products is bad, sometimes no buyers 2 issue o marketing, improve purchase purchase 3 because he is arming he has access to vegs to eat, also cultivating maize or himsel, himsel, is happy about it Waste 1 he doesn’t compost and he didn’t see anybody doing it, has done it beore in central Ghana on 2 acres land using cow dung, chicken manure and wood ash 2 there are benets, they used waste rom household or a year, but it was not enough so t hey used it only on hal o the area, used compost and ertilizers on the same beds 3 not enough space, other problems on the site are the polybags and all the plastic and the lack o time, but it is possible in homes or other places 6 he would use no other ertilizers 7 no labout currently, was employing labour 1 year ago or watering, paid 5 beds 1 GHc, now the son helps Land 1 rom Agro import dealer 2 1 bed or 30 GHc biggest bed, at least 50 or 60 GHc 3 constant costumers, but he would sell to anybody who comes around doesn’t matter i short supply or not 4 3 years (arming or 9 years) 5 No 6 no, because this would expose him to exploitation 7 no need to consult anybody to sell product when the women come he is able to negotiate well, don’t tell actual prices to other armers (secret market), not possible because o dierent sizes o beds 8 better quality then other region because long lie span, rural armers produces get spoiled sooner, same quality within Accra. Yes Yes branding would be better money


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9 does this with maize or himsel 10 10 Ghc or ood a day, earns 15 GHc but not always, wie has income as well Water 0 uses only piped water, because there is no other source, stream is too ar away 6 They were meeting meeting 3 – 4 times beore it was built and decided in discussion to be willing to use the borehole and paying the bills also agreed on how and when to use 7 yes, in association group meeting 8 xed price, less than commercial and domestic rate, they are about 10+ people in the group and everybody pays 3 GHc per month 9 more regular water supply on the eld than in the stand pipe close to his home 10 did not think o this, but he thinks that women are very busy and its not possible to talk to all o them. It is a good thing.

Interviewee: Farmer - Tamali Date: May 09 Place: Dzorwulu Site Age 22, has been arming or 2 years. His brother was arming here and told him about the site. 9 members in his amily. Had no good grades at school, he let it 2 years ago when he started arming. No eviction attempts, eels sae. Hopes he will be somewhere else in ten years. Perceives Perceives chemicals as too expensive, expensive, this is why according to him the main needs are chemicals and working tools. Has never tried compost. Has hired one person or 3 months. Buys seeds rom dierent places 20 GHC or one bed given by women. Women can sell them 1 GHC per lettuce. These women are regular customers. Has been requenting them or 2 years. No money borrowed rom women. Thinks that is would be good to negotiate prices prices between armers. Thinks that i people know these vegetables are rom Dzorwulu they would pay more because higher quality. Does not know how to cook vegetables. vegetables. Spends about 4-5 GHC per day or his ood. Some o his revenues go to the ood, some to buy ertilisers, some to an account to save money. Stream water has benets or the soil. No skin problems ater using the water. water. Does not use any protection. Would need boots and gloves but too expensive. expensive. 10 GHC or gloves. Would preer preer to use machines like in Europe because hand-working results in women not willing to be touched


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by him because o his spoiled hands. He uses techniques techniqu es to clean waste water, such as collecting collect ing only top water. During the association working groups, they talk about marketing or water. water. Has piped water at home, with shortage sometimes. Has sometimes shortage o 3 days without water on the site. Would gain more money with more piped water used. There is unemployment issues in his community. These people would not know what compost is unless they arm.

Interviewee: Farmer Date: May 09 Place: Dzorwulu Site 40 years old, 50% rom Ghana. -

Farming on Roman Ridge. Has never heard o the Dzorwulu association. No idea o what compost is. He started using chemical ertilisers since 1990. Pays 15 GHC per month or piped water. Mainly worried about pesticides and insects. Cannot apply by night when he leaves the site.

Interviewee: Farmer Date: May 09 Place: Dzorwulu Site 60 years old, Religion = Bissa Arrived on the site or the rst time in 1979. Had no job so joined his brother. brother. Has been working or 35 years in the Land Commission in part time. Has 6 children. Has never been to school and regret it. This is why he sent all his children. That has been the main benet o arming or him. Will be here until he dies. Children will succeed him. He uses chemical ertilisers and chicken manure. The quantity has never changed over the last 35 years, even when they got the coupon or the chemicals. Always had vegetables on the site, but the site has changed over time. Used to be bush. The association dates back to 2006-2007 Has never been more women on the site. Has experienced eviction attempts.


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Interviewee: Farmer Date: May 09 Place: Dzorwulu Site 30 years old -

Has been arming or 15 years. Originally rom Burkina-Faso At the beginning the site was a big bush. His ather was working here. Has grown dierent crops : Lettuce, salad, green pepper 15 years ago. Now : Spring onion, cabbage. People have never tried to evict him. Farming is good because he is at ease with what he is doing. Never heard o compost. Buys manure rom actory. Spends 100 GHC a week to hire 5 people.

Interviewee: Farmer Date: May 09 Place: Dzorwulu Site 33 years old Is arming alone. Husband is dead. Has been arming or 4 years. Went to school. Likes arming, but thinks it is hard and thinks she will not be able to continue or a long time. She dos not see her arming in 10 years, this is why she is saving money on an account. Does not hire people. Lives 30mn walking rom the site. Uses mainly chemicals, not too much manure because attracts insects when it rains. Producing lettuce, spring onion and cabbage. She gets 15 GHG per bed o lettuce. No idea o how much women will sell it. Pays 5 GHC a month or piped water.

Interviewee: Market Woman - Nora Date: May 09 Place: Agbogbloshie Market


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She buys rom Kumasi and Kobu. She says that merchants bring the t he ood to the market on Mondays and Thursdays and they buy the vegetables rom them. She has to pay or storage. She lives in James Town. She is member o the association. She says it is a good thing. She doesn’t sell her husbands’ vegetables.

Interviewee: Market Woman - Aisha Date: May 09 Place: Agbogbloshie Market It is a amily business. During the dry season she has to pay more or vegetables. During the wet season there is abundance and she has to reduce her prices. She puts the letovers to the bin. She doesn’t say to her customers i the th e vegetables she is selling have been watered only with piped water, or organic, etc. She doesn’t market them. She wouldn’t pay more or that either. She said that they don’t have an association. She said that the extension ocer o the Ministry o Public Health doesn’t visit the market but that an AMA ocer does. They come to inspect hygiene and talk to the market queens.

Interviewee: Market Woman - Julianna Date: May 09 Place: Agbogbloshie Market •

1 yes, here

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2 she pays 1 GHc every day

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3 every day o the week, rom 5.30 until 6pm

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4 she likes it she sells since 1945, its good she likes everything

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5 it used to change by seasons, but now they th ey have irrigation and there is no change anymore, beore vegs was cheap now its expensive


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6 1 – 4 GHc or one caulifower and transport is expensive, expensive, she uses the bus

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8 uses the bus, its expensive

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9 she leaves the vegetables over night on the market stall and sews them up in baskets

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10 Yes Yes rom the same armer, armer, I go according to the harvest har vest time and they are not riends, The armers gave me credit i I don’t have money to buy

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11 dierent places

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12 no

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13 the armers do it or here and it’s the same price

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14 yes

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15 no there is nothing special and it doesn’t have a dierent dierent price on the market

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16 yes, but im not in because im old

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17 no

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18 no husband, let long time ago, she supports the house

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21 I clean my place

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23 the price it not about the organic, but about the abundance o the product and the n egotiation process

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27 yes with tap water, sometimes sometimes she brings it in the can, she cleans the leaves to sell it better

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28 no

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29 yes, but she didn’t say who, someone orm the secretary gave training in clean water use and what I can do clean the vegs 30 long time ago they used dirty dir ty water, water, now its clean, they use pipes

Interviewee: Market Woman - Jannet Date: May 09 Place: Agbogbloshie Market


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1. She sell in the same place, they pay to be there 2. Works 7 days a week rom 7 to 4 3. She like the market because y quick money, i you lost today you get tomorrow 4. Always sell the same crops, don’t change during the year 5. According to the costumer you ger more o less (prices change according to whom they are selling) 6. A product price can vary rom 1 to 5 cedis during the year, it also changes according to the supplier. supplier. 7. The products are already harvested rom the armers. A bag o lettuce is 2,50 ghanas cedis, but there is competence to buy. buy. Some days there are not many buyers in the market and she can only sell or hal o what she paid, but otherwise she sells s ells or double or triple 8. Agric car brings veges rom togo, Kumasi and the rest o Ghana to market 9. They don’t keep the veges you sell them quick and cheap 10. They buy rom togo (lettuce), Kumasi (lettuce), benin, cabbage rom mountains, they buy some rom accra but its not clean 11. She buys rom dierent people and the same group o armers or generations, but they t hey are not riends or amily, money is no riend Doesn’t lend money to armers 11. She buys rom the market when the truck comes 12. Kumasi is good, togo can be bigger, dierence dierence o quality by armer, togo has little but sot so t carrots, Kumasi big, but hard ones, the little ones sell better 13 no she buys it in a bag 14 doesnt buy in Dzorwulu, they have their own market women 16 yes we are part o association, actually their mothers are, there are monthly dues, but t hey don’t know how much, collect money or uneral parties, don’t see any benet 17 no loans 18 has children but no husbands 19 she doesn’t have money or training 20 a lot o money or ood, sometimes they eat what they sell 21 some people clean her place and she gives them money, but her mother cleans the place hersel 22 keep them resh with water, 23 organic is better because it keeps longer resh 24 no they buy what is cheaper 25 not possible to market organic or more money, because they cant prove it and consumers don’t believe i they would just tell 27 yes, uses tap water, her customers like it washed ,but eg her mother doesn’t do it, because her costumers don’t mind 28 no problem, she changes the water in the bowl, where she keeps eg carrots requently 29 yes, rom maggi, they said that she has clean way o handling, they say they have to veges clean and to use clean water to attract costumers 30 i they use piped water its good, i they don’t its not good


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31 she realises that there is a dierence, but the consumer doesn’t know a dierence on the market and thereore she doesn’t 32 has seen it on tv 33 nobody ever came rom public health oce

Interviewee: Market Woman – Yvonne Date: May 09 Place: Agbogbloshie Market Age-23 Ethnicity-Eastern Region o Ghana Religion-Christian 1.

Yes, every day pay 10 dues, 10 peswas, to sell in market

2.

Monday – Saturday, rom 4h00 (dawn) to 16h00 in evening or until all vegetables sold

3.

Everyone is using it; is her mother’ mother ’s job; she would go rom school to market to help her mother; end o month her mother gives her a salary salar y

4. 5.

Yes, this year vegetables were more costly; the t he price o seed is higher, higher, armer told them, so the price is higher

6.

Farmer sets the price, then they negotiate

7.

Sometimes, 100 Ghana cedis or 1 bed o carrots; depends, sometimes 200, sometimes 800; market is about gain and loss, gain and loss

8.

Each day a dierent person rom the amily – one person each day, Mother, brother, sister, her – goes in a van to Togo; Togo; the cost o one trip tr ip is 20 Ghana cedis

9.

Yes, it there is vegetables letover rom the day put them in a box, under the tin roo (behind the stall); Mother rented box, she knows price

10.

Get vegetables rom Togo, i no produce in Togo or i the border is closed, go to Kumasi

11.

Do not go to Accra because they don’t have enough produce, and because vegetables rom Togo last longer

12.

Yes, example, carrots rom Togo last or 4 days, carrots rom Accra only 2 days


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13.

Yes, she harvests the vegetables, armers’ don’t help her with it

14.

n/a

15.

n/a

16.

Yes, her mother belongs to it, owners are members and not sellers; but she doesn’t know enough about it because doesn’t belong to it; ull o market women the same age as her mother; there are regular meetings

17.

No.

18.

Unmarried, but her ather sells cucumber, cucumber, and pepper – selling carrots is lady’ lady ’s work because its more complicated; he sells only what he does does – depends on his pockets i.e. how much money he has; he has another job; has a arm in Kumasi, gives money to armers to arm in Kumasi; and yes, buys rom other armers on sites when there are no goods

19.

No, we are cultivators, but others come, buy the vegetables and process it

20.

Has sisters and brothers still in school, so spends it on school and allowances or clothes; also, also, support extended amily with money – not all o them, but supports nieces and cousins living with them in their amily house; 12 people living in the house, including including Mother and Father

21.

Every week is main collecting o waste; a woman comes and sweeps each seller’s area; seller pays sweeper to clean their area, puts it in basket, basket dumped in dumpster at the end o the market

22.

– 26. No comment

27. Do not wash vegetables beore selling. selling. 28. No. 29. No programmes, maybe in Market Womens’ Association 30. – 31. No comment 32. Nothing. 33. Yes, they should be allowed. 34. No comment

Interviewee: Facilitator - Delvine Date: May 12 Place: Dzorwulu Site First I explained to Delvine the t he concept o the certication and the veggie box as marketing strategy. strategy.


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Q. Who do you think would be able to do the regular monitoring and quality control on site o the produce? D: The monitoring would go hand in hand with MoFA, EPA and Ghana Standards Board (GSB). EPA would be in charge o the environmental monitoring o the natural assets on site. Q: Could you imagine learning how to do the quality control with a cer tain toolkit and carry it out regularly? D: Yes, Yes, I would like to learn how to do this, but I would need an assistant to help me with the additional work load. I am at the Dzorwulu site every three weeks or one week and there wouldn’t be enough time or me to do it on my own Q: How many extension workers are employed by MoFA and courses do they receive? D: In the Sub-metro area there are in total 7 other extension workers, so 8 including me. We We meet regularly and talk about our work. We receive regular training and workshops on M&E techniques, gender issues, livestock raising, pests and diseases, and crops. When armers give us eedback on the things we tell them we don’t always change our training and advices or them because they would not trust us anymore i we would change our advices all the time. Q: What are the criteria or the nomination o the best armer o the year? D: The extension worker nominates the best armer o the year and every extension worker has his or her own criteria, but generally it has a lot to do in how ar they are willing to respond to and implement the advices given by the extension worker. Q: Do you know any armer who grow and deliver? D: Yes, Yes, there are two armers on the roman ridge site, they use motorbikes and they sell mainly to restaurants Q: Do high income household mainly have housekeepers who do the shopping or do they shop themselves when it’s about ood and veggies? What do you think? D: I think that it depends and that some have housekeepers and some do the shopping themselves. Q: Do you know how many water taps exist on site and who the bills are getting paid? D: There are to pipes on site and the bills will get paid by the people who use it. One pipe bill is paid by the women the other one by Karim.


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Interviewee: Farmer - Karim Date: May 12 Place: Dzorwulu Site Individual Interview with Karim about the t he water bills, veggie box box and certication. Q: How many water pipes are on site and how are the bills paid and how much is it per month? K: There are two pipes on site and the bills are paid by me or one pipe and by Margaret or the other pipe, but all women collect the money or their bill. We pay about 30-40 GHc per month and on our pipe there are two taps. We are two people who use the taps and share the bill. There is a meter, but i we would pay the meter price it would be too expensive. The meter readers set a xed price which is less than commercial and domestic rate and we have to bribe them or this. They change every year and at the beginning, when they don’t know our situation, we always pay much more, but ater a while they understand our situation and they give us a better xed price per month. I explained Karim the idea o the vegetable box and ask him how many vegetables they can grow all year round K: whole year: cucumber, lettuce, spring onion, Chinese cabbage, beet root, spinach, basil, kisibra, jeisam, coriander, parsley, mint Seasonal: aubergine (grows it or the rst time and is happy with the result, takes 4 month), reddish twice a year, year, carrots only during the dry dr y season Q: what do you think about the idea? K: It’s I t’s an interesting idea, but there is still the problem o the wastewater use and the negative perception. perception. And armers are dicult to group together and start the scheme and agree on prices and everything else. He starts talking about the boreholes: We want to drill our own boreholes only 7 eet deep where the water is good, with help rom IWMI.

Interviewee: Farmer - Angelina Date: May 12 Place: Dzorwulu Site Q: how do you pay the bills or the water and how h ow many people use it and how many taps do you have? A: Margaret receives and keeps the bills, but all the women collect it rom the users. We have 4 taps or our pipe. The taps are used by immigrants (doesn’t tell the number o people).


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Interviewee: Farmer rom Roman Ridge Date: May 12 Place: Dzorwulu Site Q: Why did you start delivering your produce? A: Initially I was working with a Lebanese shopkeeper who sold only meat and people where asking him why he doesn’t sell vegetables as well. So he asked me to deliver him the vegetables. Ater a while the costumers asked him to deliver directly to their homes. I deliver to restaurants and private people. Now they don’t have to call me anymore to give the order, because I know their preerences and to most o them I deliver twice a week. It took about 3 years to know k now their preerences preerences and the products they want. Q: Where do you deliver? Close by or all over the city? A: I deliver all over the city and I don’t only sell my products or products rom Roman Ridge or Dzorwulu, but I collect them close to the places where I deliver. deliver. Q: Why? A: Because there is not enough produced around here so I buy it close to where I have to deliver to. It’s not a matter o quality. Q: How many deliveries a day? How many days a week? A: I deliver every day and i I start early (7am) I can make 7-8 costumers a day and i I start late (10-11am) 4-5 people a day. I don’t have any people to help me with the delivery, but I have a arm hand who comes every day. Q: Is it more protable to deliver or to sell directly to market women? A: I sell to market women as well, and although I have to spend money on plastic bags and petrol it is more protable to deliver. Per bed o lettuce I get 30 GHc rom market women and 40 GHc when I deliver. Q: Are your costumers concerned about the irrigation source or the products? A: Some o them are some o them aren’t.


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Interviewee: Farmer - Immanuel Date: May 12 Place: Dzorwulu Site Farming or 14 years Came to site ater riends started arming there, t here, land was empty at the time Main problem: labour intensive to dig beds, but never hires help Never tried compost, uses manure and chemicals and both are good

Water: only uses piped water, pays bill with group every month There are 3 meters with 6 people on each meter, they pay a xed rate Sometimes the pipe is locked or days at a day, more oten in dry season One pond lasts 10 beds so there’s no way it will last 3 days while the piped water is unavailable Sometimes they are warned beore they close the tap Water goes o in all communities not just the arm Never heard any complaints/problems about using piped water Compared to other areas the site has good service and they store water or other places Sell vegetables to both market women and some locals, dierent market women each time Sell to amily or a higher price than market women to discourage them coming to the site or a discount o market price (too much work to harvest in small quantities) Also eats what he grows and buys some ood rom outside (what he eats is mostly the ruit rom the nearby trees) Sometimes borrows money rom market women women (Karimi might be able to expand on this) No other sources o credit, never had any problems with market women Some pay beore they sell and some ater He would preer to get paid beore Never discusses the prices with anyone beore selling, just decides what is a good price Some market women tell the truth about what is a good price but you never know unless you go to the market yoursel.

Interviewee: 4 women rom the local community Date: May 12 Place: Local Community


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1. Put organic waste in bags in bin 2. Pay Zoomlion 10 cedis a month, 20-40 pesewas every morning 3. At rst said they wouldn’t wouldn’t sort as it would be a waste o time, but i they were given a bin they would as it would be easier 4. Have good relations with armers. Get vegetables or ree and buy some. Borrow water when pipes in the community are locked and they oten go over to sell them th em things 5. Eat the vegetables they buy right away 6. Don’t know the dierence between organic and non because ood isn’t labeled. “A carrot is a carrot” carrot ” 7. Sometimes go to Agblogbloshie Market i they can’t get something at the Dzorwulu site but it is more expensive than on site Women in the community separates plastic bags and sells them to a company

Interviewee: 1 man and 2 women rom the local community Date: May 12 Place: Local Community 1. Gives it to animals and some to armers, uses some or rewood 2. Zoomlion charges 10 cedis a month (bin) or 1 cedis per bag 3. Would separate i bin were provided 4. Have amily members arming at Dzorwulu site 5. Eat vegetables they buy right away 6. Would preer organic but they’re never labeled (can tell the dierence by taste) Fertilizer makes vegetables look big but actually not very good and taste bad

Interviewee: 1 man and 1 woman rom the local community Date: May 12 Place: Local Community 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Gives waste to goat armer and throws some away Zoomlion: 10 cedis per month and 30 p to boys per bag Would be willing to separate with bins Good relationship with armers: buys cabbages, cheaper to go site than to buy vegetables at market Knows armers use manure, she preers organic, her sister arms that way and the ood is better Eat things right away when they are ripe


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Interviewee: 1 woman rom the local community Date: May 12 Place: Local Community 1. Dumps all garbage at the bin 2. Pays 30p. twice a week 3. Would separate with bins 4. Sometimes buys rom armers but not oten 5. Can’t tell the dierence between organic and non, suggested maybe she would like to be educated on the benets o each 6. Buys vegetables to eat right away, away, washes them


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Promoting Sustainable Urban Livelihoods Through Sustainable Urban Agriculture. Case Study: Dzorwulu- Ghana

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