About this module
In Level 1 you learned to grow. In Level 2 you learn to grow for money: the right crop, at the right time, for the right buyer, at a cost you know.
Who it is for. People who have finished Basic Vegetable Production (Level 1), or who already grow vegetables and can show the same skills. National Proficiency II covers a range of varied work done under limited supervision; Level 1 was routine work under close supervision.
The size. A plot of a quarter-acre to one acre (about 0.1 to 0.4 hectares), the size a young grower or a group can run as a business.
CTVET status. CTVET has no vegetable or horticulture programme. Its nearest approved programmes are Arable Crop Production and Agripreneurship at National Certificate II. This module is not a CTVET curriculum. It follows CTVET's format so it can be put forward later.
Bridge from Level 1: what you already know
Before you start, check that you can still do each of these. If not, go back to the Level 1 manual.
- Read the GMet seasonal forecast and plan a four-block crop rotation
- Test soil pH with a kit and build raised beds
- Raise seedlings in trays, solarise nursery soil and harden off seedlings
- Space the six crops and give the per-plant fertiliser doses
- Scout weekly in a W pattern and name the eight main pests and diseases
- Make the safe home sprays (soap, pepper, neem)
- Read a pesticide label, know what a pre-harvest interval (PHI) is, and spot fake products
- Judge maturity, sort into three grades and keep a harvest logbook
Level 1 left three things for later: exact lime rates, a list of legal pesticides with waiting periods, and farm budgets. This manual covers all three.
How the module works
Each unit has learning outcomes, performance criteria, the range and the evidence your assessor needs. You are judged Competent or Not Yet Competent. About 70% of the time is practical, following CTVET's Oil Palm programme split of about 30% school and 70% workplace.
Unit 1 · Plan the enterprise and the market calendar
Growing well is half the job. The other half is having produce when buyers want it and few others have it.
Competency standard
| Learning outcome | Performance criteria — the trainee… |
|---|---|
| 1.1 Draw up a crop and cash plan | plans crops, areas, sowing dates and expected income for 0.25–1 acre |
| 1.2 Target high-price windows | uses succession sowing to harvest when prices are high |
| 1.3 Choose a good business location | judges a site for water, road and buyer access |
Range. Six Level 1 crops plus one new crop; local market prices. Evidence. Season plan; price diary; site report.
Prices move with the season
- In Accra a box of tomatoes cost about GH¢1,500 in January 2024 but GH¢6,000–7,000 in June 2024. Rains from April to June bring disease and scarcity; August brings a glut.
- In August 2023 a large box at Accra's CMB market fell from GH¢1,000 to GH¢800. Prices rise again around Christmas and Easter, when Ghana imports tomatoes from Burkina Faso.
- More than 60% of fresh tomato imports arrive between November and April.
- In Takoradi in August 2025, a sack of green pepper rose from GH¢800 to GH¢1,200, and okra and garden egg rose too, while tomato was cheap because it was in season.
What this means for you. Do not plant everything at once. Use succession sowing: sow a small block every 2–3 weeks so you always have something to sell, and aim a bigger block at the high-price months. The Takoradi report suggests a local market for off-season pepper, okra and garden egg; check it in your own market.
Location settings that give good returns
Good returns come from water, a road and a buyer, more than from the soil alone. Hotel buyers in Accra audit farms and want approved irrigation water. Government vegetable clusters are being built around solar irrigation, a packhouse and a committed buyer.
| Site feature | Why it pays |
|---|---|
| All-year water (borehole, stream, dam) | Dry-season crops get the best prices |
| Road a truck can use in the rains | Produce reaches market fresh |
| Near Takoradi, Tarkwa or a junction market | Short trips, more buyers |
| Secure from animals and thieves | Less loss at harvest |
| Near other growers | Share transport, sell together to bigger buyers |
Season plan
- Visit Market Circle or your nearest market every week for a month. Record prices of five crops in a price diary.
- Draw your block plan: crops, area, sowing dates in 2–3 week steps.
- Estimate yield and income for each crop.
- Score your site with the table above.
Ask a trader
Ask a market woman which vegetable is hardest to find, and when. Write down her answer.
Unit 2 · Soil testing and fertiliser planning
A pH kit told you if soil was sour. A laboratory test tells you what it is missing, so you buy only what you need.
Competency standard
| Learning outcome | Performance criteria — the trainee… |
|---|---|
| 2.1 Take and send a soil sample | collects a mixed sample correctly and sends it to a lab |
| 2.2 Turn rates into bags | converts a per-hectare rate into bags for the plot, and the cost |
| 2.3 Plan lime and organic matter | plans lime and compost from the test result |
Range. Own block; one lab report. Evidence. Sample record; fertiliser plan with cost.
Where to test
The CSIR-Soil Research Institute (head office at Kwadaso, Kumasi, with stations in every farming zone) analyses soil for farmers. Contact sri.info@csir.org.gh or +233 322 050353. Some programmes share the cost of tests. Free mobile testing has run in some regions; a typical result was "nitrogen is very low".
No Western Region price found. No current price for a soil test in the Western Region was found. Phone CSIR-SRI or your district MoFA office before you collect samples.
Take a good sample
- Walk the block in a zigzag and take 10–15 small cores, 0–20 cm deep.
- Mix them in a clean bucket. Take about 1 kg.
- Air-dry it in shade. Label: name, plot, date, last crop.
- Never sample just after adding manure or fertiliser.
From rate to bags
Lab reports and guides give rates per hectare. A quarter-acre is about 0.1 ha.
Bags needed = rate (kg per ha) × plot area (ha) ÷ 50
Example: 250 kg NPK per ha on 0.1 ha = 25 kg = half a bag.
Fertiliser prices rose steeply: an NPK bag cost GH¢120–130 in 2019 and GH¢240–400 in 2022. Get today's price from your input dealer before you budget.
Practice sums
- 400 kg/ha on 0.4 ha: how many 50 kg bags?
- 150 kg/ha urea on 0.2 ha: how many kilograms?
Sample and plan
- Take and label a soil sample from your block.
- When the report comes back, read it with your trainer.
- Write a fertiliser and lime plan with quantities and cost.
Price check
Get today's price of NPK, urea, lime and a bag of poultry manure from two dealers.
Unit 3 · Water: drip, budgets and the dry season
The best prices come when it does not rain. The grower with water wins.
Competency standard
| Learning outcome | Performance criteria — the trainee… |
|---|---|
| 3.1 Make a water budget | matches water source and storage to crop needs |
| 3.2 Run a drip kit | installs, runs, flushes and repairs a gravity drip kit |
| 3.3 Plan a dry-season crop | plans an irrigated crop for the dry season |
Range. Gravity drip on one block. Evidence. Water budget; working drip kit; dry-season plan.
Why drip
- In a Ghana trial with 15 farmers, conservation farming with drip used 18–46% less water, and yields rose.
- Women's home gardens given drip kits and tanks saved labour and earned more.
- In a government dry-season tomato programme, more than 1,200 farmers grew on 543 ha. Yields rose from 4–5 to 11 tonnes per hectare, and gross margin from GH¢4,555 to GH¢14,150 per hectare.
Drip only works with care. Level 1 described drip kits abandoned when farmers were not trained or followed up. The Ghana results above came with training and buyers. Keep filters clean and check every line every week.
Water budget
A simple budget: count your plants, estimate litres per plant per day in the hottest weeks, and multiply. Then check that your source and tank can supply that every day. A tank on a stand 1–1.5 m high gives enough pressure for a small gravity kit.
Drip care
- Clean the filter every week
- Flush the ends of lines every two weeks
- Walk each line: look for dry plants and wet patches
- Repair holes with a joiner, not tape
- Store lines out of the sun between seasons
Install a kit
- Lay out a gravity drip kit on one block.
- Fill the tank and time how long it takes to water the block.
- Find and mark any blocked emitters.
- Write a water budget for the block.
Dry-season plan
Choose a crop for December–March. Write its sowing date, water need and target market.
Unit 4 · Better seed, grafting and protected growing
Good seed, strong roots and a net over the crop can double what you harvest.
Competency standard
| Learning outcome | Performance criteria — the trainee… |
|---|---|
| 4.1 Choose and save seed legally | compares OPV and hybrid seed; saves OPV seed for own use |
| 4.2 Graft tomato | grafts tomato onto eggplant rootstock with a good take |
| 4.3 Judge protected growing | explains when a net house or greenhouse pays |
Range. Tomato; one net-covered bed. Evidence. Seed comparison; grafted seedlings; cost note.
Open-pollinated or hybrid?
- Open-pollinated (OPV): seed can be saved. CSIR-CRI released two tomato varieties, CRI-Kwabena Kwabena and CRI-Kopia, which are early, tolerate blight, yield up to 20 t/ha and keep well after colour break. Farmers say the seed is expensive.
- F1 hybrid: higher yield and uniformity, but saved seed does not grow true, so buy new each season. Government dry-season farms used both types.
The law. Only registered varieties may be sold as seed, and selling seed needs registration. Save OPV seed for your own use; never sell it as seed.
Grafting tomato
Grafting tomato onto African eggplant rootstock gave better yield, earlier harvest, less disease and longer shelf life than ungrafted tomato in a University of Ghana trial. Rootstocks also help against bacterial wilt.
Graft
- Raise eggplant rootstock and tomato scion so stems are the same thickness.
- Cut both at a slant with a clean blade. Join and hold with a clip.
- Keep grafts in a humid, shaded box for 5–7 days, then harden off.
- Count how many survive.
Net houses and greenhouses
- Insect-proof nets in Benin and Kenya cut sprays by 70–100% on cabbage and tomato, and tomato yields under fine mesh were far higher than in the open.
- A survey of 118 Ghana greenhouses found some types profitable.
- But inside Ghanaian greenhouses it was up to 10 °C hotter than outside, often 35–40 °C. Keep them narrow, use shade screens and natural ventilation, and keep records.
- About 100 greenhouses at Dawhenya stood idle for nearly 8 years before being revived as a training centre.
Start with a net, not a greenhouse. Greenhouses can pay, but they are costly and hard to manage in Ghana's heat. A net-covered bed is the cheaper first step.
Tomato yellow leaf curl virus is spread by whitefly. In a University of Ghana field trial, Roma had the highest virus rate (43%) in the dry season. Nets keep whitefly out.
Seed costs
Price an OPV and an F1 tomato seed packet. Work out the seed cost per plant for each.
Unit 5 · Advanced pest control and legal pesticide use
Count before you spray. Spray only what is legal. Wait before you harvest.
Competency standard
| Learning outcome | Performance criteria — the trainee… |
|---|---|
| 5.1 Scout with numbers | counts pests, uses traps and applies action thresholds |
| 5.2 Manage key pests | plans IPM for Tuta, whitefly, bacterial wilt and diamondback moth |
| 5.3 Use pesticides legally | selects registered products; uses PPE, correct mixing, PHI and storage, under supervision |
Range. Own block; a supervised spray. Evidence. Scouting sheets; IPM plan; spray record.
Action thresholds
A threshold is the pest level at which spraying pays. Below it, you watch.
| Pest | Starting threshold |
|---|---|
| Diamondback moth on cabbage | 0.5 larvae per plant |
| Aphids on cabbage | 2% of plants with 5 or more aphids |
| Aphids on pepper with fruit | 4 per leaf |
| Fall armyworm on maize (rotation crop) | 20% of plants damaged early; 40% later |
These numbers come from outside Ghana. Use them as starting points. Record what you find, and adjust with your trainer and extension officer.
Key pests
- Tuta absoluta (tomato leaf miner) was first confirmed in a greenhouse in the Eastern Region and has been reported in the Western Region. Use IPM, remove and destroy infested plants, and expose soil to the sun. Pheromone traps help with timing, but trap counts alone do not show damage.
- Whitefly and leaf curl virus: nets, clean seedlings, remove infected plants early.
- Bacterial wilt: grafted plants, rotation, no water flowing from sick to healthy beds.
- Diamondback moth: scout, act at threshold, rotate products.
Legal and safe pesticide use
- Only products registered in Ghana may be used. About 1,070 pesticides were registered by December 2023, and 32 fake products were withdrawn. The regulator is the Environmental Protection Authority.
- In May 2026, all six cabbage samples tested in Accra had too much of at least one pesticide. The causes were over-dosing, wrong mixing and harvesting before the waiting period ended.
Your spray rules.
- Spray only under your trainer's supervision at this level.
- Full PPE: gloves, boots, overalls, face and eye protection.
- Measure the dose. Never go above the label rate.
- Spray in the cool morning or evening, never in wind.
- Rotate products so pests do not become resistant.
- Triple-rinse empty containers, puncture them, and never reuse them for food or water.
- Record product, rate, date and waiting period. Harvest only after the waiting period on the label.
- No children or pregnant workers near pesticides.
Scout and spray record
- Scout your block using counts. Fill a scouting sheet.
- Decide: watch or act? Explain using the threshold.
- If action is needed, plan a non-chemical step first.
- Help your trainer with one supervised spray and complete the spray record.
Read three labels
Copy the crop, dose and waiting period from three registered products at a dealer.
Unit 6 · Post-harvest, quality and standards
Produce that stays fresh earns more. Buyers pay for clean, graded, traceable produce.
Competency standard
| Learning outcome | Performance criteria — the trainee… |
|---|---|
| 6.1 Grade and pack to a buyer's spec | grades and packs to a written buyer specification |
| 6.2 Keep produce cool | builds and uses a zero-energy cooling chamber |
| 6.3 Keep traceability records | records what was done to each batch |
Range. Own harvest; one buyer specification. Evidence. Packed crates; cooling chamber log; batch records.
Cooling
- A zero-energy cooling chamber (ZECC) is a double brick wall with wet sand between, under shade. In Northern Ghana okra, tomato and amaranth kept 4–7 days in one, while leaves outside wilted by day 3. At Seseko in Ashanti, tomatoes kept more than 7 days.
- Materials: burnt bricks, sand, raffia, bamboo and wood.
- A CoolBot lets an ordinary air conditioner cool an insulated room to about 2 °C on much less electricity. A Ghanaian university has sought designs for such rooms.
Standards buyers ask for
- Green Label is Ghana's scheme for safe vegetables, covering pesticide use, traceability and waste. By 2022 it had over 900 farmers, and its produce sold in supermarkets such as Palace Mall, Game and Maxmart.
- In June 2026 the Ghana Standards Authority launched a national organic certification scheme.
Traceability means you can say for any crate: which block, when planted, what was sprayed and when, and when it was harvested.
Build a ZECC
- Build a small cooling chamber with your team.
- Store half your harvest in it and half in the shade.
- Record the condition of both each day for a week.
- Grade and pack one crate to a buyer's specification with a batch label.
Supermarket visit
Visit a supermarket. Note how vegetables are packed, labelled and priced.
Unit 7 · Run the business: records, people, markets and money
Know your profit for every crop, treat your helpers well, find the right buyer and let people know you.
Competency standard
| Learning outcome | Performance criteria — the trainee… |
|---|---|
| 7.1 Calculate gross margin | works out income minus direct costs for each crop |
| 7.2 Supervise helpers | organises casual workers fairly and safely |
| 7.3 Sell and grow | chooses buyers, finds finance and markets the farm |
Range. Own block; a season's records. Evidence. Gross margin sheets; work plan; marketing plan.
Gross margin
Gross margin = income from sales − direct costs (seed, fertiliser, sprays, water, labour, transport, packaging)
In the dry-season programme, tomato gross margin was GH¢14,150 per hectare, and the offtaker paid GH¢7–10 per kg against GH¢3–5 from traders. In Northern Ghana, supplementary irrigation raised the gross margin of chilli and okra several times over.
Worked example
A quarter-acre (0.1 ha) of tomato yields 11 t/ha. How many kilograms is that? What is it worth at GH¢4 per kg to a trader, and at GH¢8 per kg to an offtaker?
Supervising helpers
- Pay at least the national daily minimum wage: GH¢21.77 from 1 January 2026.
- No children on hazardous work: pesticides and cutlass work are listed as hazardous for children in Ghana.
- Give water, shade, first aid and clear instructions. Write each person's tasks for the day.
Buyers
- Aggregators buy from many smallholders and supply supermarkets, because "supermarkets just want to deal with one face".
- Hotels and offtakers: a government programme supplied 240 tonnes of tomatoes to Accra markets, a mall and a hotel; the hotel audited the farm.
- Contract farming: most vegetable contracts in Ghana are informal and seasonal, set quality and quantity, and treat selling to someone else as a breach.
- Export: the EU banned five Ghanaian vegetables in 2015 because of pests, costing about US$36 million, and lifted the ban from 2018. Pepper for the EU must be free of false codling moth. Vegetable exports reached US$48 million in 2024. Export is for later, through a registered exporter.
Finance and support
- Feed Ghana Programme (launched April 2025) gives seed, organic fertiliser, training and farm service centres, and encourages cooperatives. Its next phase moves to storage, processing and market links.
- GHATSI (September 2026) offers a GH¢20,000-per-acre tomato package plus insurance, repaid through the buyer, in 35 districts. Check whether your district is included.
- GIRSAL guarantees can lower bank interest rates for agribusiness.
- One vegetable project targets youth, women and persons with disabilities.
Business ideas and ingenuity
- Sell healthy seedlings from a netted nursery to other growers
- Offer grafted tomato seedlings
- Run a cooling chamber and charge neighbours to store produce
- Grow off-season pepper, okra and garden egg for Takoradi markets
- Pack graded, labelled produce for a supermarket or aggregator
- Sell compost made from crop waste
Market yourself
- A WhatsApp Business catalogue with photos of fresh, graded produce and your harvest dates.
- A sign at the farm gate and a name for your produce.
- Keep promises: deliver the agreed grade on the agreed day. Reliable growers get the contracts.
- Join or form a group so you can supply bigger buyers together.
Accessibility
Persons with disabilities grow vegetables successfully when the farm is set up well. In Banda, solar irrigation lets about 250 persons with disabilities grow pepper, onion and tomato, and a district assembly has trained persons with disabilities in vegetable farming. Practical changes: raised or waist-high beds, wide firm paths, drip instead of watering cans, longer tool handles, tactile or large-print labels, and work in pairs.
Business file
- Complete gross margin sheets for two crops from your block.
- Write a one-week work plan for two helpers.
- Visit one possible buyer. Record their quality, quantity and payment terms.
- Make a WhatsApp catalogue entry for your produce.
Support visit
Visit the district MoFA office. Ask about Feed Ghana and any vegetable support in your district.
Glossary
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Action threshold | The pest level at which control pays |
| Aggregator | A business that buys from many growers and sells to big buyers |
| F1 hybrid | Seed from two parent lines; saved seed does not grow true |
| Gross margin | Income minus direct costs |
| OPV | Open-pollinated variety; seed can be saved |
| PHI | Pre-harvest interval: days between last spray and harvest |
| Rootstock | The lower plant onto which another is grafted |
| Succession sowing | Sowing small amounts every few weeks |
| Traceability | Knowing the history of every batch |
| ZECC | Zero-energy cooling chamber |
Logbook
Your Level 2 logbook is a business record as well as assessment evidence.
- Unit 1: price diary; season plan; site score
- Unit 2: soil sample record; lab report; fertiliser plan with cost
- Unit 3: water budget; drip maintenance log
- Unit 4: seed comparison; grafting record
- Unit 5: scouting sheets; spray records with PHI
- Unit 6: cooling chamber log; batch labels
- Unit 7: gross margin sheets; work plans; buyer notes
- Every homework, dated
Self-check quiz
- Why sow in small blocks every 2–3 weeks?
- Name three site features that give good returns.
- How many 50 kg bags is 250 kg/ha on 0.2 ha?
- Name two things to check on a drip kit every week.
- Why can you not sell OPV seed you saved?
- Why start with a net house rather than a greenhouse?
- What is an action threshold?
- What did the GSA find in Accra cabbages in 2026, and why?
- How does a ZECC keep produce cool?
- Write the gross margin formula.
Further reading and sources
Best next reads: your Level 1 manual; the Hub's Money Skills manual; the Green Label farmers' manual.
What this module does not cover: export certification in detail, large-scale greenhouse design, and tax (see Money Skills).
Every source used in this manual is listed, with links, in the Teacher Copy.