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When subsistence depends on your ability to toil in the fields or travel long distances to market, the elderly and people with disabilities are among those most vulnerable to the threat of food insecurity.

But in one village in Upper West Ghana, a group of elderly and disabled residents have found a way to turn these vulnerabilities into a strength: by forming an official group and petitioning for help from their district assembly. “There are five blind people in the group, and 15 disabled” explains Kur-Yang, one of the group’s founding members. 

The group from Dazuuri now have their own dry-season garden, a feat which would not have been possible without the help of the local government and several NGOs. Support which they recieved after being recognised as an official group. It is an important win for them in a region where dry-seasoning gardening has become an increasingly important adaptation practice. The extra income derived from selling vegetables during a normally unproductive time of the year has benefits far beyond the nutritional boost the fresh produce offers.

But normally the activity is reserved for those with access to land close to the river, or enough time and labour to put in the effort required for a garden.

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