MASO opens doors for the youth – the story of Enoch Gyebi  

Enoch Gyebi  is a 26-year-old carpenter from Sefwi Sui,  a farming community with a population of about 3000 in the Sefwi-Wiawso Municipality, of the Western Region.

Enoch, dropped out of Junior High School in 2018 when he lost his father. He subsequently, went to learn a trade in carpentry. He practiced that for the past five years in his community. Although he earns some money from the trade, it was irregular and insufficient due to limited jobs in the community. He, therefore, went into cocoa farming as an additional income generating venture.

“Now I see better prospects for me in farming”, says Enoch.

Enoch Gyebi working on his farm in Sui

Enoch’s enrollment in the MASO programme

In 2016, when the MASO train arrived at Sefwi Sui in the Sefwi-Wiawso Municipality, Enoch registered to join over 2000 other young people across Ghana. He enrolled to train in cocoa agronomy and business skills. Enoch saw this as a good opportunity to go into cocoa cultivation to support the income from his carpentry work.

Enoch, however, had a major challenge. His family did not own any land neither did he have any money to purchase land if even it was available for sale.

As part of supporting the youth overcome challenges in their quest to establish farms, the MASO programme identifies bottlenecks and identifies solutions to them.  On land access, the programme has identified various options available and introduces the youth to them. This is how Enoch, solved his landless status.

Through, the training he received, Enoch realized he could acquire land through the “Abunu” system so he started consultation with some community members.

He has acquired a five-acre land through the “Abunu” land tenure systems. This means when his farm is of age, he will divide it into two and hand half over to the owner of the land.

Enoch started clearing the land during the 2016/2017 farming season. He has cultivated three acres out of the five acres. Cocoa seedlings have been planted on the land and intercropped other food crops including cocoa yam, cassava, maize, and vegetables.

Progress to date

Enoch Gyebi selling his first harvest to a market woman in Sui

After a year of farming, Enoch has started harvesting plantain from his farm. He has already sold GhC 700.00 cedis worth of produce. He is investing part of that money and additional funds from his sale to the farm.

Through the MASO’s financial inclusion interventions, Enoch has opened a bank account with the Opportunity International Savings and Loans Ltd. He is saving his farm earnings in the account.

After he has finished cultivating the entire size of land allocated to him, Enoch will have 1 hectare (2.5 acres) cocoa farm to support himself as his own.

“I want to grow my cocoa business to earn a decent living”, Enoch concludes.

Story and photos by Apau Blay, MASO Programme Officer in Sefwi Wiawso