My presentation to Engineers Without Borders.

1. EFFECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE-SUSTAINABLE DEVELOMENT
GOALS(SGDs):Local, National, International. ENGINEERS WITHOUT BORDERS (EWB)
2016(Re) Connect International Conference, Kumasi, Ghana.
Venue: Lltaly Ice Cream and Restaurant, Santasi-near Christian Service University.
By: KWAMEE KWAME
Email: kwameekwame@yahoo.com
Tel: +233202152935
There are two subjects of thought that must be revisited if we want to remain who we are in this
existence we all call our home. These are the subjects of nature and attitude. Nature means
allowing things to remain in their own purpose, in harmony with all others. Attitude means ‘living
our needs and wants within the times without hurting others when they are around’. It is our duty as
a people to start thinking about these things as we are here together as brothers and sisters and also
as engineers without borders.
My name is KWAMEE KWAME. I serve as a unified agricultural communicator (MofA), a farm radio
program producer and broadcaster (FRI), a trainer of trainers in adult teaching and learning (NFED),
a backpack journalist (ACEDEV), a freelance concept photographer, and a writer for Barza-wire. I am
also a small scale farmer.
My duty here is to remind us and the rest of the world about the effects of climate change on
sustainable agriculture. Let us also appreciate that the theme for this important gathering is
Sustainable Development Goals; Local, national, international. This topic has no relevant time
except the time called now. If you agree with me, may I hear you say yes? Thank you very much.
This presentation seeks to explore our realization on the past, the present and the future or our very
existence we call our home. A home is not a structure or place that provides shelter only.

2. A home is rather a dwelling place where we can always go back to; a place of feeling. In fact, our last
stop on earth. That is why, it is said that there is no place like home. One of the conditions of the
home is that, everything is for a place and there is a place for everything. Engineers are trained
professionals who are noted to conform with the last statement because this is their nature.
Engineers’ simply answer the questions of what things are, when things can be used, why things
should be used, who uses the things, where to place the things that must be used and how to use
the things must be used to achieve effectiveness and efficiency in our lives. It is therefore very
important for you to help engineer the challenges facing our farmers and the world on the issues of
climate change. Climate change is trending as the major issue now. Thanks to President AL-Gore and
his team of the climate reality leadership project.
A farmer is first of all a human being. A farmer is the one who takes up the first employment after
creation; taking dominion over the garden. A farmer is the one who also listens to the calls of nature
we refer to as the seasons and appreciates them by reacting appropriately.

3. A farmer is the one who has a lot or patience and therefore can wait for the harvest time. A farmer is
the one who feeds us all. A farmer is the one who provides the needed answer to the question of
hunger; food.

4. In the food chain the farmer plays all the parts or at least most of the parts that are recognised by
all of us.
When the fear of fear or the fear of the unknown is replaced by verifiable proof of evidence over a
period of time, then there is security and continuity is guaranteed. Our farmers must have this
especially in Africa and my country Ghana. This explains sustainability in the simplest terms.
Sustainable agriculture ensures continuity even though the odds prevailing may persist. It is and
must always be the driving source and force. It must be transferred through all the generations of
our farm families. For how long can our farmers persist in providing us with food? In Africa, farmers
now have to travel very long distances away from their dwelling places in the pursuit of food.

5. Women do these even with their young children behind their backs whiles carrying very heavy loads
on their shoulders and heads. Of course, their dependants must be fed. But of course, these kids
should have been in school learning and practicing better ways of farming as a business. Let us also
remind ourselves that, in our countries most of our farmers are women and children; the vulnerable.
Our able bodied youth are losing interest in the land and are rather burning their hands by
wondering all over the globe seeking greener pastures. I call it wondering and people call it
migration. Good old Jimmy Cliff the reggae legend calls it suffering in the land.
When step by step methods of measurements of wind, temperature, humidity, earth, water bodies,
vegetative cover, land mass movements, gas levels, light and heat are recorded and carefully
analysed over a period of 1-30 years then we have the climate. The climate therefore is our recorded
history we use in the present so that we may have an idea of our future. All the elements that make
up this existence form the environment. The activities that take place must always ensure
equilibrium so that life can be sustained. The end product of all our actions and reactions is what we
call the climate. THE CLIMATE THEREFORE IS UNIQUE TO GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONS. This is its
NATURE. Unfortunately however, the climate is changing and it is changing because of our actions

6. and inactions. This cannot and must not be denied.
CLIMATE CHANGE IS THE GLOBAL INCREASE IN EARTH’S TEMPERATURE AND THE EFFECTS THIS HAS
ON THE EARTH. In the last 100 years, earth’s temperature has warmed by 1 degree Fahrenheit and
continues to rise. This is the problem on our hands. It is a challenge because if this continues, we
shall simply become homeless sooner than we think. Our daily activities are preventing sunlight from
radiating back into space. The burning of fossil fuels, wood, plastics and the miss-use of other gasses
coupled with deforestation brings about pollution.

7. Pollution causes the greenhouse effect we all know about. You all agree therefore that we as a
people are the cause of climate change. The ice is melting, the sea is rising and temperatures are
rising to constantly tell us that we are not safe. We are beginning to migrate because of these things
and sooner than later we shall be wondering where to even migrate to. Our farmers and farm
families are the most vulnerable because of their low income levels and their subsistence methods
of practice.

8. Unfortunately most of them contribute very little to climate change. They are paying for the sins
and misdeeds of the huge and complex exploiters in the corporate world.
I say, we must not look far to see the prevailing receipts nature is offering us because of our
activities. The direct health effects are already present for us to see and suffer.
1. Heat cramps,
2. Heat exhaustion,
3. Increase in the activities of fleas and mosquitoes
4. Strokes,
5. Very hot days and nights,
6. Increase growth and stubbornness of weeds
7. Smog that irritates the respiratory system,
8. Aggravated asthma,
9. Lowering of our immune systems

9. 10. Skin diseases of various kinds
11. Weak lungs, heart problems,
12. Cholera and salmonella,
13. Cancers
14. Changes in rain timelines and weather parterns.

10. These and many others are what we can testify to around us. The above mentioned conditions are
what our farmers and indeed all of us are constantly running away from. We are therefore
migrating. We are even wondering where to migrate to. Our farmers are therefore in a dilemma. Our
future looks bleak.
There is hope. What we must do is to change our mind-set. We must also create and share the
reality of climate change. We must think and practice what we think as individuals. The good news is

11. that, some people have started and we need to follow them passionately. Dr Kofi Boa is one of
them. A few kilometres from Kumasi on the western side is the NO-TILL CENTRE. Dr Kofi is doing
what needs to be done by sharing knowledge he acquired over the years as a senior research
scientist and a practicing farmer. He has now formed a movement that is so close to the soil and
nature. For him and his large following of farmers, the soil must first be treated as a living thing. The
soil must not be worked, tilled or disturbed in the name of cultivation.
This is not new however. It is an old system that must be revisited for the soil to deliver its best. In
the local parlance, this system is called PROKA which means apart from the harvested products, all
other things must be left as soil cover to rot and go back to replenish the soil. When we lose the soil
we lose everything.

12. This allows the soil to be completely covered all the time. Soil life is enhanced by maintaining
earthworm activities, adequate soil temperature, microbial activities, good and slow percolation of
soil water, good moisture retention and reduce runoff.

13. Professor Bill Gentile of the American University, Washington DC is a film maker of great repute for
over 40 years. He is also a celebrated trainer in backpack journalism all over the world. He has
travelled widely and has seen the effects of climate change on many communities and its peoples.
As storyteller and photographer, Bill Gentile gets the stories well documented in film and video
formats for others to see, feel and learn from. I am proud to say he trained me in backpack
journalism. He used his skills to tell part of the climate story for us to learn from. In his film, ‘’WHEN
THE FOREST WEEPS’’, we are exposed to how valuable the forest is to us as a people and how a local
community in the amazon forest critically protects and lives with the forest in peace until the worse
begins to happen.
Our forests must not weep if we want the generations unborn to be proud of us in the near future.
We must also continue to use the power of radio and other media channels to create simple and
acceptable message formats to speed up the awareness levels of our farmers and indeed all of us.
Finally, may I remind all of us present here and those out there to go out as ambassadors to spread
the message of climate change so we can all remain in our natural nature peacefully.
Thank you all for coming and good night.