Food insecurity in Ghana affects about 50% of its population. The World Food Program has attributed this to inefficient food systems in the rural areas which are the agricultural areas in the country. This may leave you wondering, DAWADAWA IMPACT INITIATIVE,A SOLUTION TO THE FOOD CRISIS IN OUR COUNTRY.
Food insecurity in Ghana affects about 50% of its population. The World Food Program has attributed this to inefficient food systems in the rural areas which are the agricultural areas in the country. This may leave you wondering, which food systems are currently operational and how can they resolve the issue of food insecurity in our country?
Dawadawa impact initiative (DII),is owned and led by smallholder farmers. It was established to promote regenerative farming ,reverse climate crisis and fight post harvest losses.
The organisation has provided all agribusiness solutions under one roof. Farmers are now able to access affordable farming products and services and maintain the quality of their produce, without affecting their profits. This has ensured that more than 55,000 smallholder farmers from Ghana and other West African countries are experiencing lowering crop production costs by 30%. Other benefits include a yield increase from 1.5 tons to 3 tons per hectare ,which has lead to increased incomes in households from living $2 a day to $5.These agricultural technologies bring profit and efficiency to farmers while being environmental friendly.
Food waste is a top three contributor of greenhouse gas emissions globally, whether scrapes from our plates after a meal, or the 40-60% of the inedible waste from animals raised for human consumption. Eno Kobi Organic fertilizer, an innovative of Dawadawa, is a pest repellent natural fertilizer that seeks to improve the soil. It is planet friendly as it utilizes food waste and therefore reduces ozone depleting methane sent to the environment. DII recovers tonnes of waste food from local food markets. Through the process of compost, key nutrients like phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium are recovered and reused to enrich soil, improve quantity in yield improve food production by 60% helping solve hunger and poverty in communities. This can also be attributed to the 50 professional and nonprofessional employment opportunity created.
Dawadawa impact initiative has several post harvest services that have enabled farmers to increase production, diversify their produce, reduce losses, improve quality and increase their incomes. These services include demonstrations, trainings and services on harvesting, grading, packaging, cool storage and cool transportation, small scale processing, quality measurement,,food safety and marketing of horticultural crops. They also have a retail shop where farmers can access affordable farming products and services to reduce losses and improve quality, while enabling farmers access to premium markets both locally and globally.
Eco Solar Power cooling service room is a cold storage for smallholder farmers to extend the shelf life of their produce by reducing losses by up to 90%. They sell them over an extended period of time to maximize on profits at optimum prices, which has led to increasing household incomes by an average of 200%. In the rainy season, farmers may experience problems like increased risk of aflatoxins and mould build up. DII has a solar power drying service that enables farmers to dry their grain to an acceptable moisture level for long term storage. Farmers are empowered to continue producing grains and therefore ensuring food security without experiencing losses.
Most farmers are forced to sell their produce soon after harvest due to lack of storage space, they miss out on extra income as commodity prices go up with time. Sustainable warehousing services ensure farmers can keep their produce safe until they are ready to sell increasing their income and profits in the process.
This includes use of Gye Nyame hermetic storage bags,the only storage bag that protects the post harvest grains and seeds against both internal and external attacks. It is a ground breaking Innovation by DII that integrates two technologies. It is a triple layered bag with technology that limits the permeability to oxygen and kills insects already living inside,stopping reproduction and damage to grain. The other technology is an insecticide-infused outer layer that kills insects trying to attack grains from outside the bag. These bags can store produce for up to 2 years at a warehouse or at home and are reusable for upto 3 years.
DII farmers are offered the Akuafo grain moisture testing meter which can measure moisture content of several commodities including corn,millet and rice. This ensures reduction in post harvest losses and aflatoxins in grains.
To enhance farmer productivity, Dawadawa impact initiative has a focus on increasing access to good digital agriculture technology. This will include identifying and providing access to machines suited for various farm operations covering ploughing,harrowing,planting,spraying and harvesting.
Digital transformation is having a great impact on the business environment, creating both challenges and opportunities. DII is commercialising use of drones and digital tools for data collection,validation and analysis for decision making. Drones are used to measure the size of the farm,weed pressure and detecting pests and diseases.
DII is a shareholder of Dighana foods, a social enterprise that creates a supply chain that connects farmers living in extreme poverty with local and global markets through efficient processing. It trains farmers in improved agronomic practices and gives them needed support from planting to harvesting.
Dawadawa Impact Initiative’s work contributes to 10 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). By providing these services to smallholder farmers, DII has helped in lowering food shortages in the communities it is already operational in and is improving the livelihoods of these farmers in the process.
which food systems are currently operational and how can they resolve the issue of food insecurity in our country?
Dawadawa impact initiative (DII),is owned and led by smallholder farmers. It was established to promote regenerative farming ,reverse climate crisis and fight post harvest losses.
The organisation has provided all agribusiness solutions under one roof. Farmers are now able to access affordable farming products and services and maintain the quality of their produce, without affecting their profits. This has ensured that more than 55,000 smallholder farmers from Ghana and other West African countries are experiencing lowering crop production costs by 30%. Other benefits include a yield increase from 1.5 tons to 3 tons per hectare ,which has lead to increased incomes in households from living $2 a day to $5.These agricultural technologies bring profit and efficiency to farmers while being environmental friendly.
Food waste is a top three contributor of greenhouse gas emissions globally,whether scrapes from our plates after a meal,or the 40-60% of the inedible waste from animals raised for human consumption. Eno Kobi Organic bio-fertilizer,an innovative of Dawadawa, is a pest repellent natural fertilizer that seeks to improve the soil. It is planet friendly as it utilizes food waste and therefore reduces ozone depleting methane sent to the environment. DII recovers tonnes of waste food from local food markets. Through the process of compost, key nutrients like phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium are recovered and reused to enrich soil,improve quantity in yield,improve food production by 60% helping solve hunger and poverty in communities. This can also be attributed to the 50 professional and nonprofessional employment opportunity created.
Dawadawa impact initiative has several post harvest services that have enabled farmers to increase production,diversify their produce,reduce losses, improve quality and increase their incomes. These services include demonstrations,trainings and services on harvesting,grading,packaging,cool storage and cool transportation,small scale processing,quality measurement,food safety and marketing of horticultural crops. They also have a retail shop where farmers can access affordable farming products and services to reduce losses and improve quality,while enabling farmers access to premium markets both locally and globally.
Eco Solar Power cooling service room is a cold storage for smallholder farmers to extend the shelf life of their produce by reducing losses by up to 90%. They sell them over an extended period of time to maximize on profits at optimum prices,which has led to increasing household incomes by an average of 200%. In the rainy season,farmers may experience problems like increased risk of aflatoxins and mould build up. DII has a solar power drying service that enables farmers to dry their grain to an acceptable moisture level for long term storage. Farmers are empowered to continue producing grains and therefore ensuring food security without experiencing losses.
Most farmers are forced to sell their produce soon after harvest due to lack of storage space, they miss out on extra income as commodity prices go up with time. Sustainable warehousing services ensure farmers can keep their produce safe until they are ready to sell increasing their income and profits in the process.
This includes use of PICS hermetic storage bags,the only storage bag that protects the post harvest grains and seeds against both internal and external attacks. It is a ground breaking Innovation by DII that integrates two technologies. It is a triple layered bag with technology that limits the permeability to oxygen and kills insects already living inside,stopping reproduction and damage to grain. The other technology is an insecticide-infused outer layer that kills insects trying to attack grains from outside the bag. These bags can store produce for up to 2 years at a warehouse or at home and are reusable for upto 3 years.
DII farmers are offered the grain moisture testing meter which can measure moisture content of several commodities including corn,millet and rice. This ensures reduction in post harvest losses and aflatoxins in grains.
To enhance farmer productivity, Dawadawa impact initiative has a focus on increasing access to good digital agriculture technology. This will include identifying and providing access to machines suited for various farm operations covering ploughing,harrowing,planting,spraying and harvesting.
Digital transformation is having a great impact on the business environment, creating both challenges and opportunities. DII is commercialising use of drones and digital tools for data collection,validation and analysis for decision making. Drones are used to measure the size of the farm,weed pressure and detecting pests and diseases.
DII is a shareholder of Dighana foods, a social enterprise that creates a supply chain that connects farmers living in extreme poverty with local and global markets through efficient processing. It trains farmers in improved agronomic practices and gives them needed support from planting to harvesting.
Dawadawa Impact Initiative’s work contributes to 10 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). By providing these services to smallholder farmers, DII has helped in lowering food shortages in the communities it is already operational in and is improving the livelihoods of these farmers in the process.
2.FOOD SECURITY AND USE OF CLEAN ENERGY, A WIN-WIN.
Climate change has always been consider a factor in ensuring food security. However,the thinking has often been one sided. We believe that in order to have enough food, we know we need enough rain.However,we never consider the impact food production systems may have on our climate. Lack of balance between food security and climate conservation has so far proved problematic,their relationship has to be symbiotic. As is evident,food waste has an impact on climate change due to methane emissions that deplete the ozone layer. Other methods of storage and value addition can also contribute to further destruction of our climate. Deforestation and use of diesel powered engines are but a few examples. Which leads us to clean energy. How can we ensure that in ensuring we are food secure as a country,we take care of our climate so it can take care of us?
Dawadawa Impact Initiative as a social enterprise has empowered farmers to build resilience to climate change. It has introduced practical technological solutions that increase the farmer’s productivity,address their current challenges and reduce their vulnerability. Their proposition is to improve food security and the livelihood of its farmers by offering innovative agricultural technologies so that production can be more profitable,efficient and environmentally friendly. Dawadawa Impact Initiative’s work contributes to 10 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) that range from ending hunger, achieving food security to combating the climate crisis.
Dawadawa Impact Initiative has postharvest management services that enable farmers to reduce post harvest losses,maximize productivity and increase their incomes. They include the solar cold rooms,solar power dryers, sustainable warehousing, grain moisture meter and PICS hermetic storage bags.With the continuing climate change crisis, farmers are unable to predict changes in the seasons. This has led to losses and poor planning which leads to food insecurity in the country. DII has been able to come up with control measures that will help farmers plan their harvests without worry about losses,while at the same time mitigating climate change.
The Eco-solar power cooling service room, otherwise known as the cold storage has several benefits, mainly that it enables farmers to extend the shelf life of their produce. Usually,smallholder farmers have to sell their produce almost immediately after harvest to avoid losses in cases where their produce goes back due to poor storage or lack of proper refrigeration. This does not allow them to maximise on future profits as food prices go up on food commodities. The Eco-solar power cooling service reduces post harvest losses by up to 90%, reversing both farmer financial losses and carbon emission. Solar cold rooms reduce 16.5 tonnes of carbon emissions each month. This means that DII is saving more than 600 tonnes of carbon emissions annually in just two communities,using four of their preservation units. This is a great contribution to the net-zero carbon world, as they expand this technology to other communities.
Use of these affordable refrigerators has enabled farmers to grow high value crops which they sell at optimum prices increasing their household incomes by an average of 200%. These solar powered refrigerators have ensured less use of diesel powered generators therefore reducing direct carbon emissions. This has had a positive ripple effect on deforestation,which has led to an increasing carbon-sequestration abilities of forests. This simply means,trees are able to capture and store atmospheric carbon dioxide, reducing the amounts in the atmosphere. So,the more forests we have,the less carbon we have in the atmosphere, which reduces global climate change and in the process ensures food security.
DII’s solar powered food dryers enhance the resilience of the smallholder farmers to climate change. In the rainy season, farmers may experience problems drying their huge produce to ensure longevity and avoid losses. They experience problems like increased risk of aflatoxins and mould build up. This leads to financial losses for farmers, food insecurity in the country and the wasted food contributes to carbon emissions in the atmosphere. By providing these drying services to smallholder farmers, DII ensures that they can quickly and conveniently dry their grain to an acceptable moisture level for long term storage. These grains can be sold to consumers months after harvest, which ensures food security and farmers are able to earn extra income as commodity prices go up.
It is therefore safe to say, both food security and climate change have a symbiosis. Use of clean energy, as evident from Dawadawa Impact Initiative,could be the solution to our prevailing crisis. Food systems can be adjusted to balance the scales and ensure that in the process of feeding our nation,we are not killing our planet.
