Ghana Permaculture Institute Achieving secure, stable food systems and improving quality of life for all

In early 2004, Permaculture teacher Greg Knibbs was invited to Ghana  by the Abbott of Kristo Buase Benedictine Monastery to teach Permaculture Design Courses (PDCs) and to help redesign the Monastery’s 430 acre farm. On the course, Greg met Paul Yeboah, the farm manager at the time. Greg and Paul became good friends and together worked to set up the non-profit Ghana Permaculture Network (since then renamed Ghana Permaculture Institute).

The Institute trains people in local communities on strategies for earth restoration, food security systems, economic stability, and the care of people using Permaculture Design ethics and principles. We assist farmers in our institute with supplies of appropriate seeds, trees, and cereal grains. We share practical knowledge on how to develop their farms so they can improve yields using local, simple and reproducible techniques. We also help farmers to search for buyers who pay fair and better prices, freeing them from the need for a middleman. All of this work helps to foster self-reliance and self-employment, thereby improving income and living standards for the local people.

We discourage bush burning and encourage the old tradition of crop rotation, as well as encouraging tree planting as a means to check soil erosion and generally protect our environment. We slowly introduce more complicated, sophisticated, and productive permaculture agroforestry systems to the farmers over time. We also carry out research on the nutritional and medicinal values of various local plants.

Since 2004 the Institute has set up 50 community tree nurseries and offers advice and training to local farmers. Currently we are networking with over 5,000 farmers. We are also introducing Permaculture to schools, teaching children about earth care. We have donated trees to schools, community organizations, and also farmers. For a more detailed background on our projects and activities, see https://ecovillage.org/ghana-permaculture-institute/ or our website.