Consultancy

Sustainable Agriculture

Agro Eco is established to promote sustainable agriculture (with special interest in organic agriculture) as indicated in our mission and vision statements. We train cocoa farmers on how to transform their cocoa farms to “model farms”, through the promotion of the use of shade trees, organic fertilizers (compost) to promote soil fertility and biodiversity. We also train and encourage them in Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) like pruning, thinning, correct fertilizer and pesticide application etc. We include organic school garden within our projects as a strategy to build the interest of school children (6 to 18-year old’s) in sustainable agriculture and nutrition and also to contribute to the school feeding program of the Government of Ghana.

Capacity Building / Training

FBO development

Our team of master trainers and experienced agronomists support on a number of Farmer Based Organizations (FBOs), developed in the cocoa growing areas of Ghana. Notable among them are Aponopono Biakoye Organic Cocoa Farmers Association ABOCFA), Ntobroso Organic Cocoa Farmers’ Cooperatives Society and Tano Biakoye Organic Cocoa Farmers’ Cooperatives Society, Cocoa Farmer’s Association, Assin Fosu and Asankrangwa iMPACT Co-operative Cocoa Farmers’ Union etc.

Agro Eco trains these FBOs in GAP, GEP, GSE, Farmer business school (FBS) to enable them maintain good model cocoa farms for higher productivity. They are also trained in Organic, Rainforest Alliance, UTZ and fairtrade certifications to ensure the production of good quality cocoa beans that can be sold at a premium price and an improvement in the socioeconomic livelihoods in the various communities.

In addition to the main stream production trainings or capacity building, farmers get additional training in

Internal Control System (ICS) /Internal Management System (IMS) Development

As part of the development of FBOs, Agro Eco also assist cooperatives on the development of an Internal Control or Management Systems. The FBOs are intended to be self-sustaining or independent, hence getting them to understand and implement organizational structure and operations is a key way to ensure their independence and resilience. We assist in the building of the internal structures, leadership and other certification requirements in the first two to three years of the project implementation and subsequently allow the FBOs to be independent entities with very minimal support.

Livelihood Improvement

Our projects are mainly developmental projects that seek to improve the socioeconomic livelihoods of farmers and their communities. Most of these projects have components of additional livelihood interventions like mushroom growing, vegetable growing, livestock, snail and grass cutter rearing etc.

Impact Assessment

There is also an assessment of the impact of the various projects, both on farmers and their communities at the end of each project. This is done through individual interviews, focus group discussions and observation. Scientific data is collected, analyzed and conclusions are drawn.

Monitoring and Evaluation

At Agro Eco we believe that constant monitoring of project activities and outcomes is a very important component of project management. Hence we employ a team of devoted staff to constantly monitor how activities are implemented in the various projects to ensure results are achieved to meet project indicators.