Residents of Ziavi, a farming community in the Volta Region, are reaping tremendously, the benefits of backyard farming.

A major feature of the community is that almost every household has a backyard farm on which various crops are cultivated.

A typical farm in this community has crops such as plantain, palm nut, banana, cassava, and many others.

On a trip to the community, it was discovered that cocoa was also being cultivated on one of the farms in one compound of the community.

The government of Ghana in the 1970s, led by Colonel Ignatius Kutu Acheampong, had initiated ‘Operation Feed Yourself’ - a program in which citizens were encouraged to engage in agriculture, mainly by planting their own food while contributing to the country’s overall food production.

Till date, residents of Ziavi have held on to that program and have held strongly on to it as they have been practicing it ever since.

Survival is not the only benefit the Ziavi people derive from their engagement in backyard farming.

There is also the economic aspect. The people make significant financial gains from the crops they harvest and sell from their backyard farms.

Just as the Ziavi community has embraced an agricultural policy initiated well over 30 years, it should inspire a change in us so we can also appreciate the idea of locally producing our food while patronizing those already being produced.

This would increase accessibility to, and affordability of domestic food crops in Ghana by the citizenry.