Helping smallholder farmers in Ghana overcome hardship caused by Covid-19

In Ghana, we are helping smallholder farmers overcome hardship caused by the pandemic. Our own Making More Health initiative and Cowtribe, a startup that distributes veterinary medicines in hard-to-reach rural areas, initiated a COVID-19 relief campaign in November 2020: the “Happy Farmer Campaign”. Since then, we’ve achieved a lot together. So what is the current status?

Fuseina Issah (right), who lives in the Kpene community, was one of the first farmers to benefit from the project in November

Fuseina Issah, a 59-year old female farmer with seven children, was one of the first to benefit from the campaign. Back in November 2020, Fuseina was unable to provide her eight unhealthy sheep with healthcare due to the cost. Thanks to the veterinarian services provided by the Happy Farmer Campaign, her sheep were looking good by January and Fuseina was able to sell them at a good price. “I have been able to purchase a bag of maize to feed my family,” she reports. “In addition, I am renovating my mud house and have set up a shea-butter business, all out of the sales of my livestock. Initiating the delivery of free products amidst the COVID 19 pandemic shows that you have us at heart.”

Juliana Afatinga, a 34-year-old mother of three children, is a lead farmer for the Akpamale group in the Gore community of Bawku West district who also accessed the campaigns’ veterinarian services. According to her, no livestock mortality has yet been recorded in her group after the service delivery. “You have no idea what your animal medicines have done for us. See how healthy the animals are looking, we can even afford to sell some for foodstuff,” she relays with joy.

Juliana Afatinga (left), a lead farmer for the Akpamale group in the Gore community of Bawku West district, and a female veterinary technician

An achievement not only measurable in numbers

The Happy Farmer Campaign is a COVID-19 relief project in collaboration with Cowtribe in the Northern and Upper East regions of Ghana. “Farmers in need received ruminant parasiticides to help keep their animals healthy in times of economic hardship,” shares Jan-Cassen Kraus, who initiated the Happy Farmer Campaign as part of his involvement with Making More Health.

The team treated more than 19,000 small ruminants and more than 7,000 cattle, and additionally dewormed 82,749 local poultry animals. In the region, poultry farming is predominantly carried out by women. In fact, 44 percent of all 4,495 farmers who have received support were female.

Alima Bawah, Co-Founder of Cowtribe, is delighted to report that over 4,000 households were already able to access this relief support. “This will ensure their food security for at least another year,” she explains.

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„The impact on the lives of these farmers and their families is unimaginable”

One of the most crucial points of the campaign is to offer not only short-term relief but also to enable these farmers to strive for future success. For example, Fuseina has since managed to employ three women. As her business expands, she also intends to buy more livestock from the proceeds of her shea butter business.

Juliana is experiencing an increase in satisfaction in her personal life: “Our husbands are happier and proud of us now. They are treating us like queens because their cattle also received your services because of us”, she says. Cowtribe strategically employs female veterinary technicians in regions in which cultural norm restricts women from accessing services from male providers in the absence of or without the approval of their husbands. By engaging female veterinary technicians, the campaign provides women with a straightforward, unencumbered access to its services.

“It is exciting to see our farmers diversifying their income sources through the proceeds of selling healthy livestock.”, summarizes Alima, before adding: “The impact on the lives of these farmers and their families is unimaginable.”

Peter Awin and Alima Bawah from Ghana, the founders of Cowtribe, are two of around 120 social entrepreneurs in the network of Making More Health (MMH). As winners of the MMH Accelerator pitch 2020, the Cowtribe team grew their social enterprise into a financially sustainable business, supported by BIs’ business insights and knowledge of the healthcare industry. MMH plans to expand its reach further and partner with a total of 250 social entrepreneurs worldwide in the coming years.