Ponds of Promise: How One Village Is Farming Its Future

In Langogu, access to water is helping farmers grow food and earn an income throughout the dry season. In this episode, host Ivy Prosper visits a farming community in Ghana’s Northern Region, where farmers are using water from a community dam to grow vegetables despite erratic rainfall and dry conditions. We hear how an extra season of farming is helping families improve food security, save money and pay for their children’s education. For women, having their own garden plots also means earning an income they can decide how to spend, helping them support their families and meet their own needs.

In this episode, host Ivy Prosper takes us to Kamonaayili in northern Ghana, where farmers are using biochar, made from burned plant waste, to improve soil fertility, retain moisture and increase crop yields. We hear from farmers of different generations about how this nature-based solution is helping families improve food security, build financial independence and invest in their children’s futures. As harvests improve, young people are finding new opportunities in farming, and some who left the community are returning home.

What if restoring mangroves could help bring fish back to a community?

In the Volta region of Ghana, the coastal community of Vodja has already lost 90% of its land mass to rapid sea erosion. Nestled precariously between a lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean, residents are refusing to let the water claim the rest of their homes. Host Ivy Prosper travels to the shoreline to meet the local committee turning to a nature-based shield—massive coconut plantations—to stabilize the sand, reclaim their beach, and hold back the rising tide.

Season 4 of Nature Answers will be in your feed THIS Thursday! More about Nature Answers: Rural Stories from a Changing Planet at farmradio.org/natureanswers