A Sudden Interest In Agriculture
Everything is pointing me towards it
I’ve been neglecting a piece of land for about five years now. Only recently, when I was feeling some pressure and tension in my writing career, and a wise person advised me not to put all my eggs in one basket, did I tune in and hear the land call out telling me it was time to cultivate it.
My life has always been guided by divine timing. From moving from Ghana to the United States and back to Ghana to becoming an author, I trust the process and know when it’s time for a new adventure. As weird as it sounds, I’m called to be a farmer at this stage of my life.
Life has been a rocky road, and my land is a rocky field that doesn’t seem to be suitable for farming. It’s full of precious stones to pick up and lies right along the stream. When I visit the land, I feel like I can create something truly amazing.
People have told me I can’t farm on the land because of the rocks, but I realized I could farm anywhere once I started farming on my balcony. If I had some ground, some soil, and some water, I could grow anything.
And all of those things I have.
Farming For Food
Crop farming is often what people think of when they think of agriculture, but it’s so much more.
Farming in Ghana is one of the main sources of food. Crop farming involves soil and land preparation, sowing, fertilizing, irrigating, and harvesting different types of plants and vegetation.
When crop yields decline, then you can be sure that the prices of food will go up. Crop yields could further decline due to climate change, particularly in food-insecure regions. This is why all of this is so important to me now.
Agriculture helps sustain life by providing the food we need to survive.
There is no better feeling than to watch your plants grow and produce food for you and your family. It is such an accomplished feeling.
But crop farming is just one part of agriculture. Agriculture also means raising livestock, fishing, hunting, forestry, etc. By cultivating natural resources, agriculture sustains human life and provides economic benefits.
Everything they say is built twice, first in the mind and then in real life. If it is seen in the mind first, it is so much easier and fun to bring it to reality. In my mind, I have seen what’s to be on the land: A house and a farm around it.
I had an architect draw a plan for the house. I’d like the house to be surrounded by trees that bear my favorite fruits, veggies, and herbs. I go around the back and there is every fruit I love the most: Avocado, mango, orange, cocoa, guava, etc. And lots of maize because I LOVE roasted corn.
The Multiplication Aspect of Agriculture
It’s amazing to plant a seed and see it grow and bear many fruits. You start with two goats and they multiply by ten. It’s this multiplication aspect of Agriculture that appeals to me.
The livestock industry is a major part of Ghanaian agriculture, contributing to food production, draught power, soil fertility, and income generation.
Someday, I’ll have chickens, sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits, Guinea pigs, etc. Two of each — male and female — is all I need to start. Sheep and goats also provide valuable non-pecuniary benefits, like manure.
Now, manure matters to me. Healthy, nutrient-dense food comes from plants grown in healthy soils containing helpful microbes that work hard to grow tasty, nutritious food.
But getting into agriculture requires easy access to water, so I was thrilled to find out that my property had so much underground water that was leaking to the surface.
So I dug a 3ft well.
The Well
Around the world, water availability is a growing concern. According to the United Nations, “water use has been growing globally at more than twice the rate of population increase in the last century.”
In simpler terms, there are now more people and less water than ever.
I was told that water under my land would cause problems when it seeped into the house I built, but that’s not what I saw. I saw an opportunity right on my land.
The agriculture industry relies heavily on water, so if I could dig a well, I’d have an endless supply.
I may or may not rear cattle, but cattle generally require about 1 gallon of water for every 100 pounds of body mass.
The average cow weighs about 1,400 pounds. So a farmer with 10 cattle will still need about 150 gallons of water per day just to water them. This doesn’t include any other water needs cattle have, like growing feed crops, washing barns, etc., so a well will help me now and in the future.
It was really easy to get started with my well. Getting someone to hack at the ground with a pick and shovel was easy. Water never stopped flowing because the ground was so soft and the water table so shallow. Water keeps filling up the well, so it needed a way to flow into the stream.
A water-supply well will be efficient for farming, irrigation, livestock watering, or other agricultural purposes. And also water for the construction work. With a well on the property, I do not have to buy water. So I didn’t see a problem at all with the water on my land. I saw liquid gold!
My daughter and I enjoyed picking rocks right on the land to decorate the well. These rocks have made the wet areas around the well harden to prevent collapse. The inside of the well still needs to be lined with rocks so it can filter soil from water to provide clear water. This means I have to get all the water out. A cap of wood would be the last thing to cover the well. I fenced it to prevent any little ones and animals from falling in and also to keep construction workers away from a section I will begin farming on. In this section, I topped the surface of the land with rich black soil.
A New Way of Life
This way of life and feeling is something I intend to pass down to my children which is why I get my daughter involved and she is excited about this project just as much as I am.
Farming is a fun way for us to get outside for some fresh air and sunshine. Mostly outdoors now, I am absorbing vitamins from the sun maintaining healthy bones and teeth, and fighting off the blues. When I am busy digging for healthy black soil or decorating my well, I do not think about the other things that make me depressed and anxious.
Getting regular exercise as I work on my farm relieves all the stress, anxiety, and depression while boosting my energy.
The process of planting a seed, watching it grow, then harvesting and consuming it is a different feeling. Knowing you did the work to grow the food on your plate gives you a connection to food that is going inside your body.
In agriculture, I am the one planting, rearing, maintaining, and harvesting the food, therefore I know exactly where it came from and what went into it. It is comforting to know that there were no harmful chemicals or pesticides used to grow the produce you plan to consume.
By growing my own food and rearing my own livestock, I’ll soon be saving money that would have been spent traveling to the grocery store. The rewards may not come right now, sure but the biggest returns often come in the future. And as a farmer, this is my mindset with the threats of climate change looming.
The Threat of Climate Change
It is the dry season now, and the weather is supposed to be dry in Ghana, but something has changed. It is still raining every day. While this is a good thing for most farmers, I am still a bit concerned. Something has definitely changed with the weather and I do not yet know how this change will affect us in the future.
If the dry season is wet, will the wet season be dry? And how would that affect the economy?
And the planet as a whole?
With the threats of climate change and all that is happening in the world, there’s not much I can do to help but to plant as many trees as I possibly can.
Planting trees plays a crucial role in mitigating climate change.
Trees act as natural carbon sinks by absorbing and storing carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Through the process of photosynthesis, trees convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, releasing it back into the atmosphere.
By planting more trees, we can effectively reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, helping to mitigate climate change. And it is the roots of the trees that hold the earth together, after all.
Trees also help to regulate temperatures, provide shade, reduce soil erosion, and support biodiversity, all of which contribute to a healthier environment and a more sustainable future.
So I’m a Farmer Now
Agriculture has suddenly become so important to me because everything is leading me in that direction. And I'm amazed by how much fun it is. The more I get into it, the more I am drawn to it.
People in my neighborhood see me doing agricultural things every day and now call me a farmer. That is a title that I love very much. I am a farmer and a very proud one.
Coincidentally or synchronically, the place where my land is located is called Agric. “How fitting,” I thought to myself 🤩
Submission by Kimberly Fosu