Doris Tetteh was a food vendor – popularly known as a “chop bar” keeper in Ghana – for five years. In this job, she cooked local dishes for sale mostly to laborers working on building projects in the area. According to Doris, “For so many years, I operated a ‘chop bar’, but most people never paid for the food.”
Doris’ creditors took advantage of their familiarity with her and failed to pay. She could therefore not earn enough from the enterprise to support herself, four brothers, and her mother.
Doris then started cultivating corn to help provide the food needs of the family. Then USAID introduced its food security program in 1996, through the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), into Trom community located in the Krobo area of Ghana’s Eastern Region. The program aims at improving farmers’ household access to food, shelter, education and health.
A survey conducted in the Krobo area identified improved varieties of mango and corn as suitable crops that could help improve incomes of poor rural farmers. To participate in the program, the farmer should have a low income and access to at least two acres of land. Doris was one of the 1,000 poor farmers selected in the area.
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