Environmentally Just Urbanisation through Urban Agriculture. Accra-Ghana 2012

Page 215

LEGON ACCRA

5

If a farmer does not have the means to cultivate the land, what happens?

6

How much land available for agriculture do you have? Is the land able to satisfy the demand of the 1000 farmers that are part of GAFA and that have applied to farm on your land? What are the conditions that are unique to this place that have attracted farmers?

7

8

1

2 3 4

How long has farming taken place on land owned by GAEC? Questions to an employee of GAEC What is GAEC?

How many farmers are in GAEC? Who owns the land? Do you have any buffer zones?

5

How do you aim to articulate partnership between the farmers and the investors?

6

Are the farmers registered as an association? Could you explain an example of an imported crop? What is the benefit of urban agriculture for the city of Accra?

7 8

9

Do you have issues of

different areas in Accra. We want to bring farmers together and increase their number farming on our land to improve the transfer of technology from us to them. The farmer simply loses his land; he cannot occupy land without farming anything. If a farmer is sick, he can call a relative or a friend to farm on his land. By so doing he would avoid losing his plot. The food production of farmers should be monitored; GAEC does not want to waste training. The land available for farmers is already taken. There is no more land left. Farmers who are part of GAFA but have no plots can attend training sessions, since every member of GAFA pays an annual membership fee of around $15.

GAEC is a technology transfer institute. Farmers can benefit directly from our training activities. There is a river, which provides a large supply of water to farmers. A formal agreement between us and the farmers is signed with a three months eviction notice. No development is planned in this area, so that we believe that farmers are likely to use the land for the next 20 years, or even more. There is a buffer zone around the nuclear site and every type of development is strictly forbidden. Farmers enjoy a secure land tenure. The site was established in 1964. Farming was practiced already at that point. Answers It is an institute dedicated to research where farmers are trained. We give them the knowledge and train them in agriculture, including organic agriculture, in any particular crop they want to be dedicated. We transfer the technology. 200 farmers are allocated to this land. The vegetables are sold in the local market and some are exported to international market. This institution owns the land. This river is a buffer zone. Samples are taken from the buffer zone area and they are analysed each year to see if there is an impact. Even in dry season there is a limited quantity of water fluing here. It doesn't dry completely so farmers take advantage of this to produce their crops. Right now the farmers are doing their own crop activities and most of the time there are engaged in the market. The market pays the prices assigned by the farmer. GAEC links the farmers with investors. The investors prefer to invest in urban agriculture rather than peri urban agriculture because they think is less risky. Urban agriculture represents an opportunity for them so they collaborate with the farmers. Sometimes they bring particular crops they want to produce and bring the technology. The farmers are registered under one umbrella, an association called Ghana Atomic Energy Farmers The ginger is from India and the buyer is in Germany. The investor wants a large quantity so he brought the ginger to multiply it. In terms of cost, urban agriculture takes away transportation costs and other risks such as breakdown of vehicle on the road. Also, the product is closer to the consumer, which decreases the price too. The price of the product is cheaper within the city in general. Yes, we have. Many times we have people that want to develop

215


Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.