Ashley Good

Country: Ghana
Partner: Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA)
Placement: Building the knowledge and skills of Agricultural Extension Agents.

What motivates Ashley Good is that she knows change can happen. “For every story of desperation and heartache,” says Ashley, “there are a hundred tales of hope that are pointing Africa to a bright future.”

Ashley wants to turn potential into positive change. She is currently working with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) in Bole, Northern Ghana to help improve the lives of rural farmers – and they are just the partner to achieve her goal. MoFA is an innovative, far-reaching organization leading transformative change for farmers in Ghana. In the Northern region alone MoFA is working to provide 750,000 subsistence farmers with the skills and opportunities necessary to generate a long-term income from their farms. To create this lasting change, MoFA has an expansive network for field staff – called Agriculture Extension Agents – who work directly with thousands of rural farmers.

Agriculture is important in Ghana, as it contributes about 35% of the nation’s economy. Yet, most farmers in the Northern region do not make enough money to support their families over the long term.

Approaching farming as a business is an important way to mitigate this challenge. Semi-commercial farming allows small-scale farmers to cultivate higher yield production, and sell the surplus crops for additional income.

Recognizing this, MoFA and EWB created the Agriculture as a Business curriculum. Through 8 workshops, Agricultural Extension Agents work with farmer groups to promote a shift from farming for survival, to farming as a business. Topics range from creating strong farmer groups to long-term business planning, monitoring, and evaluation. This unique program is fundamentally changing the approach to farming in the region.

“Every member of the MoFA staff in Bole is excited about the Agriculture as a Business curriculum,” Ashley says. “They see the huge potential it has to help farmer groups in the district increase their profits.”

Specifically, Ashley is working with Agricultural Extension Agents to improve the effectiveness of the Agriculture as a Business Program among farmer groups. She is focused on helping extension agents further develop their problem solving skills, so they can best address complex farmer challenges. To broaden the impact, Ashley is also working with management staff at MoFA to strengthen the leadership within the organization.

With the achievements of the curriculum thus far, the EWB team is now hoping to extend the Agriculture as a Business program to new regions of Ghana. This is an exciting step which will positively impact the ability of farmers across Ghana to create a more secure future through farming.

“Ghana in general has a huge potential and desire for development.” Ashley adds, “It is motivating just to be working here at a time when real changes are happening to improve the quality of life for Ghanaians.”