Back in the days, we could literally figure out
when it was about to rain
by taking a sniff of the air or the soil.
Since the climate has changed
we farmers too have to change
and flow with the system.
In the southern part of Ghana,
we are really, really blessed.
We have a lot of water bodies,
but the problem arises when farmers
do not live close to a stream or a river.
They rely on rainfall
and this is really unpredictable.
Most of the time
farmers overwater
or underwater their crops.
When human knowledge shows its limits, the cutting edge data technology plays a vital role.
I used to underwater my crops.
But since I have adopted the SOSIA irrigation system,
things have changed.
SOSIA+ is an advisory tool
that enables farmers
to use their irrigation systems
effectively and efficiently.
It is a dripping system
that comes with a soil moisture meter
that you use to determine the water content
in your soil.
It has a rain gauge
that can help you to know
whether the amount of rainfall
that you have is enough for you to irrigate or not.
So this project is part of the Partners for Water programme
and we collaborate with TU Delft, Future Water
and a local weather station called TAHMO.
TAHMO gives us the right information
to push farmers to either irrigate more or less
and this has never been done before
because in the past, the only available weather data we had
we had was from the national grid.
And these were not reliable for remote areas.
SOSIA is important. This is because crops are supplied
with the required amount of water, and therefore
farmers avoid unnecessary expenses related to
excess water usage, labour, and energy.
I believe the farmers are more than beneficiaries.
They are partners in this programme because
they sacrifice their time, their effort and their energy.
When you are estimating for future projects, it can help you
to estimate if I am doing ten acres of cabbage
or I am doing ten acres of pepper
How much water do I need to complete
the cropping season successfully?
For us, it is really important
to help the farmers in managing their crops
and to help them in adopting good farm practices.
In this way, they can assure that their crops are healthy
and this is something we believe in.
People here in Ghana are doers.
They like talking about reducing wastewater,
and they like to see results.
This is the way that we can get our local people,
young people, to go into farming.
Look at my farm now. I am happy.