The Ho West District Assembly has now placed a very high premium on treated human solid and liquid waste, applying them on farms to boost crop yields.
This follows the realisation that the yearly output of urine and faeces from the 130, 000 inhabitants in the district can provide nutrients to produce enough crops to feed the entire population throughout the year, with surpluses on the farms.
Based on that, the District Directorate of Agriculture has established 18 demonstration farms in the area, training farmers on the human waste application farming method.
The District Director of Agriculture, Mr Seth Rashid Asuo, disclosed these at the quarterly ‘Meet the Press’ series at Dzolo-Kpuita, the district capital, last Thursday.
For now, he said, about 234 farmers were undergoing training in the new farming method.
According to Mr Asuo, the District Directorate of Agricultural, in the interim, collected the urine from the solid and liquid waste concrete receptacles from some schools in the Ho municipality in an expert manner, using the appropriate gear before transporting it to the Ho-West District for treatment and storage, and then for application on the farms.
“We started this in the latter part of last year and, so far, the results on the farms are amazing,” Mr Asuo said.
He explained that the treated human waste farming method was part of a five-year agricultural development plan which took off in the district in 2018.
“Going organic is one of the pillars we are building on, in terms of agriculture,” Mr Asuo added.
The District Director of Agriculture touched on the Planting for Export and Rural Development programme, and said that 28 nursery sites had been established in various locations in the district for that purpose.
Already, he said that 1,315 farmers were vigorously taking part in the group nursery system under the programme to produce citrus, cashew, coffee, cocoa, coconut and oil palm on massive scales.
Mr Asuo said that prospects for the programme were highly bright, with ready markets for the produce from far and near.
The Ho West District has a total land area of 1,002.79 square kilometre with 203 communities.
FROM ALBERTO MARIO NORETTI, DZOLO-KPUITA