A locally made organic fertilizer, Organic Farming Aid (OFA) has been identified as a great potential to improve the yields of staple crops.
It has been revealed that using OFA, whether on its own or combined with inorganic fertilizers such as NPK, would allow farmers to reap high yields and maximum value in cultivating maize, cowpea and groundnuts.
According to a study, OFA fertilizer is cost-effective and more efficient in boosting farmers' productivity.
Statement below
NEW PROGRAMME TO DONATE GHANAIAN ORGANIC FERTILIZER OFA TO WOMEN SMALLHOLDER FARMERS LAUNCHED TODAY
At their Stakeholder meeting held in Accra today, Ghanaian company HJA Africa, makers of OFA (Organic Farming Aid), announced their new Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme for donating OFA to selected women smallholder farmers.
The HJA Africa CSR Programme will provide free OFA to selected women smallholder farmers through a number of delivery partners: the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG); the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP); social enterprise Time Ndo working in Upper West Region; and Madam Mabel Akoto Kwudzo CEO of Okata Farms and runner up national best farmer 2017, working in Oti Region.
The Programme is based on the huge value for money OFA offers farmers. Recent research by the CSIR Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) showed that a typical smallholder farmer growing 2½ acres of maize could invest just 55 cedis in OFA at planting, and increase their net profits at harvest by 2,000 cedis. That’s a sensational return on investment from OFA, of more than 35 times in just 3 months!
OFA is suitable for all crop types and puts good yields and good profits within the reach of almost every farmer in Ghana. By enabling selected farmers from groups likely to be financially constrained to experience the benefits of OFA for free, HJA Africa’s new CSR programme will not just give immediate help, but also give these farmers confidence they can build a successful and sustainable long-term farming business using OFA, with affordable upfront fertilizer costs that they can pay for themselves in subsequent years.
HJA Africa plans to set aside an initial total of 50,000 cedis worth of OFA for the CSR Programme. This is sufficient to enable more than 1,500 selected beneficiary women small-holder farmers to use their free OFA on, for example, an acre of maize.
Henry Abraham, the CEO of HJA Africa said “the best way to help the millions of smallholder farmers who struggle with low yields leading to low profits, is to offer sustainable business models that enable them to run their farm profitability, without having to find large sums upfront to invest in inputs, that will often be out of reach. Right now many farmers are finding soaring synthetic fertilizer costs unaffordable, but with OFA (Organic Farming Aid), every farmer can access a highly effective and very affordable Ghana-made organic fertilizer, and significantly boost their yields, whilst also enjoying many other benefits from OFA such as repelling key pests, stopping fungal attacks, and protecting their health and environment.
I am very grateful to our delivery partners, the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG), the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP), social enterprise Tieme Ndo in Upper West Region, and Madam Mabel Akoto Kwudzo in Oti Region. These partners will be working with us to give free OFA from our CSR Programme to selected women smallholder farmers, so these farmers can experience the huge benefits of OFA for themselves. Our shared aim is both to provide immediate help, and to open up a route to much more profitable farming long term for many of these farmers.
More generally, I am excited that rapidly increasing numbers of farmers are already discovering the huge financial benefits that OFA offers farmers for themselves and that some of these farmers have been able to join our OFA Stakeholder meeting.
It is a huge privilege to be able to offer such good news to all Ghanaian farmers today, particularly in these difficult times”
At the OFA Stakeholder meeting, HJA Africa are also unveiling a newly commissioned painting by leading Ghanaian artist, Nana Anoff, accompanied by poetry from Nana Asaase, to celebrate the Ghanaian farmer.
You can find more information on HJA Africa and OFA by searching for “HJA Africa” on Facebook or by contacting their office on 055559207
Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |
The best Agric minister will tackle that.He knows best. He will do the needful. We trust in him. He has done good things in Ghana and will always do. He is the next president of Ghana.