During the second quarter of 2025, the Agricultural Extension Agents (AEAs) of the Department of Agriculture, Kpone Katamanso, intensified their extension activities aimed at educating and supporting farmers within the Municipality. The AEAs conducted extensive home and farm visits to enhance farmers’ and other value chain actors’ capacity in adopting best agricultural practices for increased productivity and sustainability.
2.0 OBJECTIVES OF THE VISITS
The home and farm visits were conducted with the following objectives:
- To provide advisory services to individual farmers and households.
- To demonstrate modern and climate-smart agricultural practices.
- To monitor and guide the implementation of improved farming Technologies.
- To promote food and nutrition security at household level.
- To support farmers in managing pests and diseases through integrated approaches.
- To facilitate access to extension information and linkages to input and output markets.
- To register farmers and FBOs onto the MOFA webbase portal.
3.0 SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES
3. 1 Farmer Education and Training
The AEAs focused on key thematic areas during their visits:
- Modern Farming Methods: Demonstrations and advice on conservation agriculture, crop rotation, intercropping, and proper use of farm inputs such as certified seeds and organic fertilizers etc.
- Climate-Smart Practices: Sensitization on water harvesting, mulching, soil conservation, and drought-resistant crop varieties.
- Precision Agriculture: Introducing farmers to digital tools for weather forecasting, pest surveillance, and farm record-keeping.
- Soil and Water Management: Teaching proper land preparation, soil fertility improvement techniques, and efficient irrigation methods.
- Integrated Pest and Disease Management: Promoting safe pesticide use, biological control methods, and timely scouting for early detection.
- Food and Nutrition-Based Education: Advising households on home gardening, backyard poultry, and nutrition diversification.
3.2 Home and Farm Visits Data
A total of 437 home and farm visits were conducted in the 2nd quarter of 2025, an increase compared to 396 visits in the same period of 2024.
Male farmers reached: 562, Female farmers reached: 234
|
Year |
No. of Visits |
Male Farmers |
Female Farmers |
|
2024 |
396 |
554 |
234 |
|
2025 |
437 |
562 |
234 |
3. 3 Farmers’ Registration – FEED GHANA
In line with the Government’s Feed Ghana initiative, AEAs commenced the registration of farmers, FBOs/cooperatives, institutions, and households onto the MOFA webbase portal. So far, 42 FBOs/Cooperatives have been captured, comprising 1,125 males and 553 females as members. However, individual membership registration is still ongoing, with 382 individual farmers registered so far.
4.0 OBSERVATIONS AND CHALLENGES
- Farmers have shown keen interest in adopting improved techniques, especially climate-smart practices, due to increased awareness of climate change impacts.
- Registration uptake is encouraging, though some farmers require further sensitization to complete their online registration.
- Limited logistics and mobility constraints sometimes hinder timely follow-up visits.
5.0 RECOMMENDATIONS
- Continuous capacity building of AEAs on digital extension tools to enhance service delivery.
- Provision of adequate logistical support for field visits.
- Intensify community sensitization to increase farmer registration onto the MOFA web base portal.
- Strengthen collaboration with traditional leaders and farmer groups to facilitate wider outreach.
6.0 CONCLUSION
The AEAs remain committed to providing quality extension services to farmers within the Municipality. The Department will continue to monitor and support the registration process while strengthening education on best practices to improve productivity, food security, and livelihoods.
REPORT IN PICTURES
