In Zakpalsi community, in the Mion District of Ghana's Northern Region, 47-year-old Azara Imoro has no formal education. What she has in abundance is a single-mindedness about succeeding as a farmer, carrying along the agricultural traditions that have sustained her community for generations.
For many years, Azara cultivated a groundnut farm measuring just four-fifths of a hectare, from which she made approximately about GH₵1,500 in sales every season. Even after helping other groundnut farmers with harvesting to earn extra income, in cash or in kind, she still had to depend heavily on her husband for financial support.
She had dreams of doing more. "I always wanted to farm maize, but the high cost of fertilizer and other inputs made it impossible," Azara recalls. "I could only afford to grow groundnut with my own seeds saved from previous harvests"
Azara's challenges were typical of many smallholder farmers in the Savannah belt, at the mercy of erratic rainfall patterns that made farming increasingly unpredictable, limited access to quality seeds, and a persisting high cost of inputs, particularly fertilizers. Despite receiving technical support from the agricultural extension agent in her community, the lack of farming inputs meant Azara could not practise many of the good practices she learned. Her modest harvest of four 100kg bags of groundnut reflected both the challenges she faced and the untapped potential that existed.
2023 became the turning point for her. That year Azara began participating in Savannah Agriculture Value Chain Development Project-SADEP, which she'd first heard about on the radio and television. A farming colleague introduced her to Asimbeya Farms, a commercial farming enterprise participating in the project.
"It was a dream come true," Azara says with evident emotion. "I could finally farm maize!"
From Asimbeya Farms, Azara received support to cultivate 1.6 hectares of maize--alongside her groundnut farm. The support comprised improved maize seeds that dramatically increased yields, fertilizers and agrochemicals that were previously beyond her financial reach, mechanization services for land preparation and harvesting, training in good agricultural practices, and access to reliable buyers for her harvest.
For her groundnut production, she continued receiving support from organizations like Urbanet and MEDA, while maintaining access to the agricultural extension services she had relied on before. The flexible payment arrangements, requiring only 50% upfront with the balance payable after harvest, removed the financial barriers that had kept her dreams at bay for so long.
For the first time in her farming career, Azara was able to enjoy the kind of financial independence she had long dreamed of, and she was now able to contribute substantially to household expenses and her children's education. Very importantly also, she gained recognition in the community, becoming a valuable source of inspiration, knowledge and guidance for other women farmers.Azara's story highlights a crucial aspect of SADEP's success: its inclusivity. The project doesn't support only educated farmers or those with access to capital. By working through commercial farmers who recruit smallholders regardless of education orwealth, SADEP is able to reach women like Azara who have historically been left out by agricultural development programs.
"I may not have gone to school," Azara says, "but now I am teaching my daughters that we women can farm successfully and provide for our families. That is the education that matters."
Through SADEP's innovative approach, Azara has expanded not just her farm but also her horizons. She is no longer a groundnut farmer struggling to survive from season to season. She is now an empowered agricultural producer, a role model in her community, and solid proof that inclusive agricultural development can transform rural lives.
