Making a difference in people's lives a world apart

A cargo container of brand new agricultural equipment was shipped to the remote village of Assaasafofum, Ghana. And with it came a change in centuries old methods of farming.

“It's quite an exciting time – my village has never had mechanized farming,” Tribal Chief Dr. Kwesi Osei-Bonsu said. “It's the first time we are going to mechanize the land – people are looking forward to it.”

Roger Thieme, owner of Evergreen Implement donated the equipment; a John Deere 55 HP tractor with a front end loader and land clearing attachments, an IMANTS (PTO) power driven spader, a Rears PTO power driven stock shredder, a two row John Deere corn planter, and a John Deere Gator utility vehicle loaded with a combination welder, generator, air compressor, a large tool box with English and metric tools and a supply of parts and consumables, all valued at more than $130,000.

The age old method of farming for the villagers of Assaasafofum began with slashing and burning vegetation. Long poles would then be used to poke a little hole in the ground. A seed was then dropped in and covered up. The process was repeated step after step. The equipment Thieme is supplied drastically changes that method and the time it takes to plant and harvest the crops.

The people on Thieme's team produced a complete video library for in-depth training of the equipment prior to the arrival of the cargo container. Thieme also sent his on-site trainer Jim Baergren to Assaasafofum for two week to get tribesmen acclimated to the equipment.