Livelihood 4
Ashanti Development Farmers Support Scheme
Ashanti Development’s farm support project has worked with 1,540 farmers across 77 villages, successfully eradicating hunger in each within a year. The project offers four years of training in farming and marketing, alongside loans at the start of the farm year to buy quality farm inputs, repayable after harvest.
A Sustainable Model That Grows
Thanks to our method of lending and charging interest, at the end of four years the loans have retained their value and can be moved to new villages without the need for additional top ups. Almost twice as many farmers attend the formal lessons as observers, even if they don’t receive loans, as these lessons are straightforward and good practice spreads fast.
Building Skills and Enterprise
Corn Mills
In Ashanti Development’s early days, we sometimes bought food processing equipment – corn mills, an oil press or gari plant – for some of the poorest villages. Nowadays we rarely do this, since we know that any community which joins our farm support project is soon in a strong enough position to buy the equipment for itself – a sign of real, sustainable progress.
Reaching New Communities
With growing demand, we are now recruiting new villages in the north of our area, particularly to support newly arrived migrant communities.
Just £1,400 supports 20 farmers for four years – covering the cost of quality seeds, tubers, tools, training and inputs needed to build thriving farms. Your donation helps expand this proven, self-sustaining programme to even more villages.
Ashanti Development