The Rural Voice, 1979-08, Page 41Fran & Tony McQuail with Wilfred Ntiamoah
Different foods and the farm machinery
are two things Wilfred Ntiamoah of Ghana
noticed when he came to Ontario. But
Wilfred, a farmer, isn't here to learn about
big machinery. He's on an OFA sponsored
visit to learn about unmechanized farming
methods that can be transferred to his
native Ghana.
At the time of his interview with the
Rural Voice. Wilfred was staying at the
home of Tony and Fran McQuail of R.R. 1,
Lucknow. Wilfred's home town is Kwab-
eng in the Eastern Region of Ghana while
his family's farm is in Abosu a village 60
miles from Kumas in the Ashanti Region.
Wilfred came here through the Canadian
Embassy channels and it is through the
Agriskills Abroad Committee of the Ontar-
io Federation of Agriculture (OFA) that
Wilfred will be able to visit different kinds
of farms in the area.
Wilfred will be working for six months in
Ontario and he wants to see a variety of
farms here. Mr. McQuail said the OFA
Committee had been at the farm one night
lining up other places for Wilfred to stay.
Wilfred is interested in sheep and
poultry and the committee is making
arrangements for him to visit several
poultry farms in the area. He will be
spending several weeks on the farms so he
can get an idea of management and the
committee is also hoping to arrange for him
to spend a week or two at the University of
The
Young Farmer
A Chance
of a Lifetime
Ghana farmer learns
Canadian agricultural skills
BY DEBBIE RANNEY
Guelph. 1 he McQuail farm will remain as a
sort of home base for Wilfred where he will
be able to pick up his mail. There is still
one particular type of farming operation
that Wilfred would like to see: a small
hatching operation, owned by somebody
with about 200 eggs. It would probably
have to be a specialty operation Tony says
which raised exotic breeds of chickens.
Wilfred is also interested in purchasing a
small incubator somewhere in the 200-500
egg range, a scale that's sensible in
Wilfred's country. Then his family could
raise their own chickens and sell the
surplus.
Wilfred would also like to look at the
raising of vegetables. His family farm in
Ghana is newly established and onions,
tomatoes and peppers could be grown
there. If Wilfred were to go into poultry he
would also be interested in raising his own
concentrates for feed.
Anyone who might have the sort of
farming operation where Wilfred could
learn something useful to farming in
Ghana could write either Tony McQuail at
R.R. 1, Lucknow or Bordon Hill at Varna.
From Wilfred's experiences here, he
hopes that a smaller version of the
Federation of Agriculture will be formed
over in Ghana to provide support for the
farmers.
While at the McQuails, Wilfred has been
working on the corn as well as with the
sheep, goats, pigs and poultry. He has also
helped out with barn building.
Wilfred has three brothers and three
sisters and he lives on a 40 acre farm where
they mainly grow corn.
Tony decided to volunteer his farm as
one of the ones Wilfred could stay at after
hearing at the OFA's provincial convention
last year that the Agriskills Abroad
Committee was interested in sponsoring
somebody's visit to Ontario to help them
learn about our farming skills. They were
interested in farms that weren't too highly
mechanized. Tony is involved at the county
level of the Ontario Federation of Agricul-
ture.
Wilfred said that at the start of his visit
Canadian food was a little different but
now is used to it. Big machinery used here
contrasts with Ghanian farm operations
done mostly with a hand tool called a
cutlass which is used for weeding, planting
and hoeing.
While staying with Tony and Fran,
Wilfred plans to attend some auction sales
to see if he could find some small tools to
take back with him. He and Tony will also
go to the Huron Pioneer Museum in
Goderich to get an idea of some old farm
tools.
On the day of the interview, Tony and
Wilfred were going to do something for
fun, and attend a local auction sale so
Wilfred could see how pigs and other
livestock are sold.
THE RURAL VOICE/AUGUST 1979 PG. 39