Center for Ecological Agriculture and Livelihood (CEAL Ghana)

The Center for Ecological Agricultural and Livelihoods (CEAL-Ghana) is a registered Ghanaian Social Enterprise (Certificate number CG107352017 TIN C0009627952). The organization produces agricultural products of different kind of organic produce. CEAL-Ghana also supports vulnerable communities in Northern Ghana to overcome poverty, disease and hunger through agro ecology education, agri-business enterprises and other livelihoods initiatives. Its headquarters is in Walewale where an integrated farming support centre/facility has been established to train local farmers in agribusiness enterprises and AgroEcology.  In 2015, CEAL-Ghana Started with a small group of smallholder farmers as a farmer-based organization (FBO) that was later transformed into a non-governmental/social enterprise organization. The aim was studying, modeling and developing strategies to support smallholder family farming groups and associations in the northern Ghana.

Vision: A society with enough healthy food to eat, happy living and free from poverty and deprivation.

Mission: Contributing to Ghana’s sustainable development goals achievement agenda through innovative/sustainable food production, processing and livelihoods development programmes.

Focus Area(s) of Work

• Agroecology/Organic/Climate Smart Agri - The programme targets small scale farmers producing vegetable, maize, soya or cowpea to increase yields aimed at promoting food, nutrition and income security in northern Ghana;
• Agro-forestry - The programme targets small scale farmers willing to adopt and integrate tree planting with other crops production for improve soil health, food, fodder, future income etc.;
• Integrated farming support - The programme introduces and supports farmers to integrate livestock production, bee keeping, fish farming into crop farming using climate smart agriculture technologies;
• Environmental resource management Governance, democracy, peace and security – Food security strives well in most peaceful societies, and well governed environment. Thus the programme mobilize grassroots farmer groups, communities, CSOs, policy makers and implementers, etc. to build the capacities of various actors for specific advocacy issues for the purpose of promoting and improving environmental resource management, democracy, peace and security  in the northern parts of Ghana.

Method(s) Used to Achieve Objectives

• PID approach –ie Participatory Innovation Development approach
• Farmer to Farmer(F2F) approach
• Mother To Mother Approach (M2M)
• Multi-Stakeholder Platform Approach
• Capacity building
• Awareness raising

Project(s)

1. Make Agriculture Work for the Youth (MAW4Y) Project – MAW4Y Project mentors and provides the needed agroecology skills, inputs, negotiated arable lands to the youth, i.e., male and female farmers as part of sustainable job creation, regional economic growth, income/food security, and peace building. Through MAW4Y, we have transformed agriculture to attract and engage 105 youth who are currently producing different variety of vegetables. MAW4Y Project is a new project initiative of CEAL-Ghana that seeks to eliminate all socio economic barriers inhibiting the youth, women and man participation in the agricultural production sector in the north east region of Ghana. The goal of the project is to contribute to peace and security through improved income and food security by transforming agriculture to create jobs, attract and support the youth effectively participate in agriculture production. The project uses both advocacy, mentoring and agroecology skills development, input support and the market driven approach to engage youth in the region.
2. Transformative Vegetable Production and Marketing (TVPM) Project - F2F approach- The project works together with our gallant dry season smallholder farmers to reduce and eliminate excessive use of agrochemicals in the production of vegetables using agroecolog, organic farming and climate smart measures through the F2F approach. We have successfully trained and supported over 250 smallholder farmers to transform their farming systems from chemical based to agroecological based where they are using bio pesticides to control pest and disease in the North East Region. We are also training smallholder farmers to prepare and apply their own organic liquid fertilization augments plant nutrient requirement of their vegetables in the dry season. The goal of this project is to increase food safety, help the farmer reduce cost of agro inputs, improve the health of the farmer and other value chain actors,  and to promote food and income security in the region.
3. Farmer 2 Farmer (F2F) Project - This activity promotes household food security and increases community resilience to climate change through organic/agroecology skill and technology transfer to smallholder farmers via F2F approach in the North East Region. Our soil amendment programmes focus on solid compost making, different kind of liquid organic fertilizers preparation and application aimed at supporting farmers to recover their exhausted soils and increase yields/hectare of maize, millets and other staples in the region. Over the past 6 years we have successfully supported over 10,000 smallholder farmers to adopt and practice these measures to improve their crop yields. This had led to improved household food/nutrition security, better economic income and environmental sustainabilit.
4. Mother To Mother (M2M) Project – M2M Project works directly with stakeholders and women in the local communities to improve the nutritive content of the food they prepare and serve in the households using the Mother To Mother (M2M) approach. It identifies fully developed nutrient packed local dishes and spreads them among women for broader adoption by training a mother who in turn also trains her colleague in the community. Over 783 household women had received training and practicing of 2 local innovations in food preparation, i.e., Walsa and Biisi-Koko, to improve household nutrition using the M2M approach in the West Mamprusi Municipality of North East Region of Ghana.
5. Expanding Promotion Of Local Innovation For Food Security And Healthy Nutrition (Eli-FaNs) Project - Through our Eli-FaNs Project activities, we have identified and profiled 10 local innovations for further development and improvement. Such local innovations will contribute to promoting food, nutrition and environmental sustainability in the region. The project is farmer led and currently working together with the originators of innovations (farmers) and other key stakeholders to improve such local innovation to the benefits of the larger farmer population in the North East Region of Ghana using the Participatory Innovation Development Approach.
6. Neem Seed and Oil Project- Since January 2023, the CEAL-Ghana team has successful trained 321 women in Neem oil extraction, packaging and marketing techniques. The activity creates value for Neem seeds as non-farming product and supports women to collect, process, package and market Neem oil products, giving women additional income apart from subsistence farming in the communities.
7. Agro-forestry activities - Our agro-forestry activities raised and distributed 9670 seedlings using the CEAL-Ghana farmer center. We trained and supported 219 farmers to plan and integrated trees into crops with a total of 219 acres. Indigenous seedlings include Dawdawa, Mahogany, Shea trees, and Baobab that was supplied. Other seedlings include Moringa, Tamrine, Cashio and Mango. Through this initiative, our smallholder farmers are increasing tree population to combat desertification, fight against climate change at same time improving food and nutrition security in the region. 

 Project Partner(s)

• ELPG-Netherlands
• Van Dam Foundation
• UNDP/ GEF-SGP
• KTCT
• CFLI
• ACDEP-Tamale
• Winrock International

Funding

ELPG-Netherlands, Van Dam Foundation, UNDP/ GEF-SGP, Winrock International, CFLI, ACDEP-Ghana, Kitchen Table Charitable Trust