Krobo Girls' farming gains — A good example for other schools

The provision of food for students in second-cycle schools in the country is critical to ensuring uninterrupted academic programmes.

This is especially important under the free senior high school initiative, where day and boarding students are fed.

Last year, the regular supply of food items was a challenge, with complaints of shortages in some institutions.

Some heads had even threatened to send students home due to the insufficient supply of food stocks for the children under their care.

Indeed, it was a major challenge as parents complained about the quality of food served in their children’s schools.

During his vetting, the current Minister of Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, indicated that he will use the school farm concept to solve agriculture problems in this country.

Indeed, since then, the government has given a clear indication of its resolve to reintroduce the school farm concept.

At a consultative meeting with key stakeholders at the St Thomas Aquinas Senior High School in Accra on Friday, August 29, the Director of the Presidential Initiative on Agriculture and Agribusiness, Dr Peter Boamah Otokunor, announced that second-cycle schools would soon start cultivating their own farms to tackle persistent food shortages and delays under the Free SHS programme.

The initiative, Dr Otokunor said, would involve on-campus farms focusing on seven main crops: rice, maize, sorghum, soybeans, onions, tomatoes, and, where possible, cassava and yams.

The intervention aims to reduce the high cost of feeding 1.37 million students, which amounted to over GH¢2.8 billion in 2024.

The initiative aims to cultivate over 15,000 acres of selected crops to meet the food and nutritional needs of our schools.

The project is expected to reduce annual spending on school feeding by between 30 and 50 per cent, amounting to GH¢840 million to GH¢1.4 billion. 

To support the farms, schools will receive certified seeds, fertiliser, mechanisation service and climate-smart training.

Even before the government’s initiative could kick off, the Krobo Girls SHS has taken the lead by embarking on a farm project (See Daily Graphic, Friday, September 5, 2025, page 26).

Under the project, backed by the board and management, the school took advantage of the planting season this year to venture into planting maize to augment the government’s food supplies to the institution.

What makes the situation interesting is that the school does not offer agriculture as a course, yet its decision to use its land to plant maize has made significant gains for the school. 

During the recent harvest, the all-girls school was able to harvest 45 maxi bags of maize from its farm to support its food stock.

The authorities deserve praise for taking the initiative and not waiting for the government to step in before starting the project. 

This is why the Daily Graphic would like to commend the Krobo Girls SHS for setting a good example and urge other SHSs with arable land to take a cue from them by planting food crops, while continuing to focus on their primary responsibility of educating the children.

School farms play an important role in providing students with hands-on experience in agriculture and equipping them with valuable skills that can lead to entrepreneurship opportunities and job creation.

Also, by engaging in farming activities, students develop an appreciation of environmental stewardship and sustainable practices.

More important, school farms encourage healthy eating habits by supplying fresh foods and lowering the risk of diet-related diseases.

It is the hope of the Daily Graphic that the authorities will heed the appeal of the Krobo Girls SHS and support the school in embarking on a bigger project during the next season.  

In the 70s, under the General Acheampong government’s ‘Operation Feed Yourself’ (OFY) programme, second-cycle schools were involved in their own small farms, which yielded some dividends.

With agriculture contributing about 54 per cent of the country’s GDP, it is critical that agriculture is properly integrated in a meaningful and practical way.