UNIDO’s West Africa Competitiveness Programme (WACOMP) in partnership with The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), embarked on a project to increase cassava production in Ghana and encourage ecologically friendly farming practices. The project involved training smallholders on ‘Integrated Pest Management and Ecologically Friendly Cassava Production’ to improve cassava production while considering environmental sustainability.

To achieve this objective, the AGI and WACOMP organised practical training programmes for 90 cassava farmers operating in the Ho, Begoro and Gomoa municipalities and its environs. The training programme was designed to focus on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and ecologically friendly cassava production, with a particular emphasis on the value chains of Reagvin Ventures Limited, Caltech Ventures, Asikess Ventures and Oxy Industries Limited located in Ho, Ho, Begoro and Gomoa Mpota, respectively. The demonstration sites were allocated through the support of all four processors as their contribution to having an impactful training. The training was conducted in four parts, which were identification of problems being faced by the farmers and solutions to overcome them, planting, pest and disease control, and harvesting. The methodology used for the training included presentations, group discussions, and field demonstrations that suited the specific activity taking place.

The project spanned from August 2020 to October 19th, 2021  at the various demonstration sites.

The training programme was aimed at equipping farmers with the knowledge and skills to increase their cassava production while also considering environmental sustainability. The farmers learned new methods and adopted them to integrate into their farming practices.

The AGI and WACOMP’s partnership provided an opportunity for smallholder farmers to learn and apply ecologically friendly farming practices to increase their productivity. The project demonstrated the importance of training and equipping farmers with the knowledge and skills required to improve their production and create sustainable value chains.