The population in Ghana is growing at a steady pace and people migrate from rural settings to bigger cities like Accra, Tema and Kumasi. Currently the most of the fresh vegetables is produced by small scale farmers, the result is large seasonal fluctuations in quantity and quality. A shift to protected horticulture is required to keep up the demand and produce high quality vegetables. But knowledge and experience is not readily available in Ghana, so that has to be imported.
Delphy will start a greenhouse Demonstration, Training & Research Centre (DTRC) and take in lead in developing the protected horticultural sector in Ghana. This project aims to develop a strong and supportive knowledge infrastructure in horticulture and thus contribute to improving the position of small to medium-sized vegetable producers in Ghana, to sustainable development of the sector and to contribute to food safety and security.
Demonstration, Training & Research Centre (DTRC)
The underlying idea to develop this strong knowledge infrastructure is to establish a Demonstration Training & Research Centre (DTRC) that targets 3 important bottlenecks:
1. Make high quality greenhouses, technology and inputs available to Ghanaian farmers, including training and advise on how to use them.
2. Training of Ghanaian farmers, students and researchers in protected horticulture
3. Research on protected horticulture in tropical lowlands
By showing the production results in the DTRC, whilst using the knowledge, equipment and experience available from the Netherlands, we will challenge growers to improve their production and give investors insight in the economic performance of protected horticulture.
This project will be executed in cooperation with: Agri Impact Consult, Bosman International, Ludvig Svensson, Hortimax, Enza Zaden, Rijk Zwaan and Koppert.
