In the area of Ashaiman 70% of the total population has no access to proper sanitation. There is waste treatment plant in Ashaiman Municipal District and all waste water and solid waste are disposed in landfills and the sea . In Ghana there is limited use of good vegetable seeds. The Ghanaian vegetable farmers’ community uses predominantly local recovered seeds. There are a few importers and distributors of imported seeds that are of a higher quality then the local seeds. The existence of new plant viruses kills vegetable plants. Some of the newly imported plant seeds may be resistant but the crop type does not fit the consumer demand. Therefore seed inoculation to create new crops that will meet local demand is needed. Seeds preferably are then grown in a controlled environment, a plant nursery, to bridge the sensitive phase of young seedlings and increase the success rate of germination to 99%.

The project plan consists of 4 processes: 1) Development of compost for nursery production: A) calculate mix combinations using sludge from the Safisana plant and local sources for growing media, B) produce 5-10 mixes and test for different crops: Lettuce, Tomato, Pepper. 2) Perform market research and develop business case and marketing strategy 3) designing and realising the greenhouse, coach the staff in producing nursery material and provide training for local growers to use the high-quality nursery material to achieve better yields 4) improving the current organic fertilisers: A) calculate optimal fertiliser combinations based on local soil conditions, B) mix 2-4 combinations (with additional N-sources to improve the value), C) test these mixes together with local growers.

The primary target group of the project is the local community with the service of better hygiene in waste disposal. Another prime target group are the local growers, being mostly women. These women are generally more open for training than their male counterparts. The training will be focussed on using quality planting material for higher yields and higher quality and food safety. High food safety standards will then reach the general public with better vegetables.

The project follows the FIETS principles.
Financial: The farmer pays for the seedlings in-/excluding a transport cost mark-up. Generated revenue covers operational expenses of the nursery including cost of salary, seeds, packaging and maintenance. Compost and irrigation water are supplied by the sanitation waste treatment facility. Nursery operations is in the hands of Safi Sana Ghana ltd (SSGL). Training is facilitated by SSGL and East West Seeds/Tikoli Ltd.
Institutional: The Safi Sana project is a PPP, done in cooperation with the local Municipality who's role is to facilitate waste access and provision of land for the treatment plant. Safi Sana has a Build Operate and Transfer arrangement with the Municipality to run operations and sales for 18 years. The project is monitored by a Project Steering Committee incl the Ministry of Food & Agriculture and Local Government (responsible for environmental sanitation) as key stakeholders.
Environmental: The waste treatment facility is able to treat 25 tonnes of faecal and organic waste daily for 100% re-use purposes. The waste has a negative impact on ground water quality, community hygiene and health risk like flooding. Additionally, nutrient recovery will help to bring back necessary nutrients and organic material to the agric soils.
Technical: Some greenhouse production exists in Ghana as well as a small technical supply sector. The greenhouse will be designed for using locally available technology, so that technical challenges can be dealt with at short notice. Also the mixing units for substrate as well as fertiliser will be built with low tech, locally available technology. The activities are performed on the premises of SafiSana, enabling quick supply of extra knowledge on the use of technology or repair.
Social: Agriculture in Ghana is performed by mainly women – both production and trade. The project includes local growers and consumers to learn to use the new organic fertilisers and nursery material. These new innovations will lead to better profits for the growers through higher quality produce. Higher quality food will lead to increased consumer health, confidence in quality and improved sales. The nursery will be designed so that the activities can be performed by disabled people.

With this project we want to make better use of the compost and process water that we generate in the production process. By doing that we will further diversify the product portfolio and we will make full use and monetize the process water. After successful completion of this project, the nursery model can be fully integrated and further up scaled in future projects.

• knowledge, marketing and (after)sales capacity reaching 1000 people
• double greenhouse built and operational
• A package of technology, processes/training and planting material, which is developed into a model that will bring higher profit to farmers and improved products to consumers
  • a package
• mixes of compost and irrigation water for nursery applied by 20 people