For Celestina Aduko, who is in her late 60s, farming in Awaradonne community in the Talensi District has become a yearly battle against rising production costs, especially the increasing price of chemical fertiliser. The retired educationist, who now depends on farming for her livelihood, says many women farmers in her community are being pushed to the edge because they can no longer afford essential farm inputs. “A bag of fertiliser costs around GH₵ 500.
We often don’t farm to our full capacity, and sometimes, we abandon our farmlands entirely due to the cost of inputs,” she said. Aduko’s experience mirrors the struggles of thousands of smallholder farmers across northern Ghana, where high input costs, limited access to subsidies, and changing climate conditions continue to threaten agricultural productivity. In the Upper East Region, many peasant farmers, particularly women, face difficulties accessing chemical fertilisers due to financial constraints.
Women farmers are among the most affected because they often operate on smaller parcels of land and have limited access to credit and agricultural resources. However, a new sustainable agriculture initiative is offering a different path by turning farm waste into a valuable soil enhancer. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), through its LOGMe II Sahelian Landscapes Project, is training farmers in 14 communities across the Upper East and Upper West Regions to produce and apply biochar as an alternative and complementary source of soil nutrients.
Biochar, a carbon-rich material produced from agricultural waste, is made through a process known as pyrolysis. The process involves heating organic materials such as maize cobs, rice husks, guinea corn stalks, soybean stalks, groundnut shells, and animal manure in a low-oxygen environment. A Soil Research Scientist, Richard Kwame Denteh, who facilitated the technical training, explained that the technology allows farmers to transform materials often considered waste into a resource that improves soil fertility.
“When added to the soil, it activates nutrients in the soil. It replaces or augments the need for fertiliser. With time, farmers may eliminate fertiliser entirely because biochar makes the soil rich and fertile on its own,” he explained.
Beyond improving soil fertility, biochar helps retain moisture, support…
Summary from source