Success Story: Farmer Learns that Sometimes Less Yields More
“They call me ‘cash man’, because they think I have lots of money. I love it and I intend to hold on to it for as long as I can,” says Mr. Isaac Asamoah, “I am so thankful to STCP for bringing real change in my lifestyle and that of my family.”
Mr. Asamoah is a 47 year old farmer who lives in Bebadour in the Atwima Mponua district in Ashanti Region. He is married with seven children. He began farming as a sharecropper in 1990 on a 14-acre (5.6 hectare) farm following the Abunu system under which farmers and landowners share farm produce in a 1:1 ratio.
Although the income generated was not sufficient to support his family, Mr. Asamoah was still required to share his earnings with his landlord. In 2004, a farmer field school began in his area; he describes his experience as follows:
My wife persuaded me to enroll in the farmer field school. Initially, I was skeptical because the program did not talk about credit facilities. Then also, the idea of going to sit in a classroom scared me. Later on, I acquiesced to my wife’s wishes and enrolled. [After the first few sessions] I made up my mind to take the training seriously because I realized there were many key issues that the trainers brought out of which I was unaware. Not too long, I felt at home and settled down quickly because of the participatory nature of the training program which elicited contributions from the participants as well.
Before participating in the program, Mr. Asamoah says he practiced the traditional adotwe way of farming. With this kind of farming, the cocoa seeds are planted directly into the soil rather than grown in a nursery. He explains:
This is what I learnt from my father. I had well over 1,000 cocoa trees on an acre [0.4 hectares] of land which gave me only 3-4 bags [~64 kg per bag]. I was happy when the trainers used my farm as a case study. I realized I had too many trees on my farm. My farm was not well aerated as a result of the heavy planting. Now I have about 450 trees on an acre of land and getting between 10-11 bags. This has significantly tripled my earnings because with the same piece of land, I am getting more money. I am also applying some of the cocoa techniques in my maize farm and that is also yielding good results to substantially complement my cocoa income.
Mr. Asamoah says his family has moved from a makeshift house into a new house he has built in the village (pictured). He has started a three-bedroom flat in his hometown of Abuakwa Maakrom near Kumasi – a feat he never dreamed of before participating in the program.
He also says that he is able to pay his children’s school-related expenses and recapitalize his wife’s trading activities. Additionally, he is diversifying his income by purchasing a water pump machine for hiring out to others. “Why not? I beam with pride when they call me ‘cash man’,” he says with a smile.
WCF thanks IITA/STCP Ghana for contributing this story.