Food is unavoidable. We eat every day but these days, the price of food is pushing the borders of inequality further.
A bucket of tomatoes which was GH¢30 last week can become GH¢45 today. A small can of pepper worth GH¢3 yesterday could cost GH¢5 today. There is no stability in the prices of onion, bell pepper, carrot, lettuce and so on.
Our wives are returning home from the market with frowns.
Effect?
A three-square meal for families is becoming a headache for many parents as the cost of living in urban communities gets out of hand.
While the government watches in despair, its solutions have become counterproductive because of the rising cost of fuel every fortnight.
But there is a solution to keep us floating even in the face of the record food inflation which is biting deep into the pockets of Ghanaians.
It is simply, grow what you eat. While salaries are at a standstill because employers are also bearing the brunt of economic standstill, we can help ourselves with home gardens.
Home gardens
Home gardens can be described as a mixed cropping system that encompasses vegetables, fruits, plantation crops, spices, herbs, ornamental and medicinal plants, as well as livestock that can serve as a supplementary source of food and income.
A few years ago, my wife, a lover of greenery, and I were wondering how we could turn our highly concretised home into a garden of vegetables and blazing colours of our favourite flowers.
The eureka moment came while taking a stroll. I saw a number of tyres lying around in my neighbourhood and it hit me that I could easily put black soil in them and grow something.
The idea became an obsession and in no time, a truck delivered the soil which we loaded into packs of tyres numbering more than 100.
In a household in which yam is a delicacy, many yam heads were planted. Taros (cocoyam) were added, then vegetables, including tomatoes, garden eggs, pepper, herbs and various flowers.
On December 7, 2019, my family joined the rest of the country in celebrating Farmers’ Day by harvesting our first yam. I felt really excited. I’ve never looked back since.
That space would have been wasted but it is helping to cut down our budget on vegetables. It may not be as much as our consumption but it is filling an important gap.
The food you grow yourself is the freshest food you can eat. And because home gardens are filled with fruits and vegetables, they also produce some of the healthiest foods you can eat.
Not surprisingly, several studies have shown that gardeners eat more fruits and vegetables than their peers.
Gardens, in addition to being a source of fresh, healthy produce, ease stress and even improve the mood, research also suggests.
Backyard gardens
While food prices continue to rise, the fact remains that most people have shied away from backyard gardens.
One would have wished that the Planting for Food and Jobs policy, modelled on the highly successful “Operation Feed Yourself (OFY)” programme of the 1970s, would drive urban and backyard gardening, but that has not been the case.
The policy has been biased towards farmers who could have been encouraged to focus more on producing enough for processing.
Not too late
But it is not too late. Households don’t need much land to start a backyard garden.
People can grow vegetables in almost everything: damaged buckets, sacks among others. All they need is just anything that can contain soil.
We don’t need the government to provide free seeds. It should just be affordable.
So you see, we can bring some relief to homes and reduce the financial haemorrhage.
The good thing is that this also provides employment opportunities for our thousands of unemployed people who security experts say could become a national security threat if we don’t find a quick antidote.
It’s time to tame inflation in our own way.
And there is no easier way to do that than grow what we eat.
Source: graphiconline.com
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Dr Akoto is the master planner for the Agric sector in ghana I believe he is able
The solution will come from Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the best Agric minister. Infact he is doing so well in an attempt to deal with the situation.
COMMERCIAL IRRRIGATED FARMING IS THE SOLUTION TO OUR PROBLEMS OF SHORTAGES IF CHINA DOES COMMERCIAL FARMING TO FEED 1.4 BILLION POPULATION AND HAVE FOOD SECURITY TO FEED THEIR POPULATION FOR ONE YEAR WITHOUT IMPORTS.STOP THE ***barred word*** OF PEASANT FARMING TODAY CHINA BOOST OF SUFFICIENT GRAINS STORAGE FOR ONE YEAR TO FEED 1.4 BILLION OF THEIR POPULATION WITHOUT SCRAMBLING TO IMPORT AND GHANA CANNOT EVEN FEED 30 MILLION WHY BECAUSE CHINA DOES COMMERCIAL IRRIGATED FARMING EVEN FLOADING SOME OF THEIR LANDS THAT HAVE TOO MUCH ALKALINE WITH SEA WATER TO ENABLE THEM TO PLANT ON IT. JUST GOOGLE THEY HAVE ALL THAT ON YUTUBE TO WATCH WHY GHANA WITH ***barred word*** AGRIC MINISTER WASTING TIME AND MONEY ON PEASANT FARMING WHICH ANY SERIOUS COUNTRY WILL NOT IF THEY WANT TO BE SELF SUFFICIENT IN RICE MAIZE, WHEAT, CASHEWS, COPEAS, SUNFLOWER OIL AND ALL OTHER STAPLES. ONLY LAZY PEOPLE WORLD DOES THAT AND THAT SHOW UP IN OUR INFLATION YEAR TO YEAR. STOP THE PEASANT FARMING ***barred word*** IN GHANA AND BRING URKRAINIAN FARMERS INTO GHANA AS BUSINESS TO GROW WHEAT, RICE INCENTRAL REGION, MAIZE, WHEAT, SOYABEANS IN NORTHIN COMMERCIAL QUANTITIES TO FEED DOMESTIC, AND AFRICA FOR HARD FOREIGN EXCHANGE PLUS STORAGE. FOR FOOD SECURITY. THIS AGRIC MINISTER IS NOT SERIOUS GHANA HAVE BEEN IMPORTING DEAD CHLORINEJUICED CHICKEN SERIOUS HEALTH RISK, IMPORT WHEAT, RICE. FOR MANY YEARS. COMMERCIAL IRRRIGATED FARMING IS THE SOLUTION TO OUR PROBLEMS OF SHORTAGES IF CHINA DOES COMMERCIAL FARMING TO FEED 1.4 BILLION POPULATION AND HAVE FOOD SECURITY TO FEED THEIR POPULATION FOR ONE YEAR WITHOUT IMPORTS.STOP THE ***barred word*** OF PEASANT FARMING TODAY CHINA BOOST OF SUFFICIENT GRAINS STORAGE FOR ONE YEAR TO FEED 1.4 BILLION OF THEIR POPULATION WITHOUT SCRAMBLING TO IMPORT AND GHANA CANNOT EVEN FEED 30 MILLION WHY BECAUSE CHINA DOES COMMERCIAL IRRIGATED FARMING EVEN FLOADING SOME OF THEIR LANDS THAT HAVE TOO MUCH ALKALINE WITH SEA WATER TO ENABLE THEM TO PLANT ON IT. JUST GOOGLE THEY HAVE ALL THAT ON YUTUBE TO WATCH WHY GHANA WITH ***barred word*** AGRIC MINISTER WASTING TIME AND MONEY ON PEASANT FARMING WHICH ANY SERIOUS COUNTRY WILL NOT IF THEY WANT TO BE SELF SUFFICIENT IN RICE MAIZE, WHEAT, CASHEWS, COPEAS, SUNFLOWER OIL AND ALL OTHER STAPLES. ONLY LAZY PEOPLE WORLD DOES THAT AND THAT SHOW UP IN OUR INFLATION YEAR TO YEAR.