FAQs – School Farm Competition

What is the School Farm Competition

The School Farm Competition (SFC), started as an initiative of Blue Skies Foundation, to create awareness about agriculture among young people and create a pipeline of talent within the agricultural sector with focus in three regions in the south. In 2022, through KIC’s partnership with Mastercard Foundation, KIC partnered with Blue Skies Foundation to scale up the programme and to reach more schools nationwide.

Which schools can apply for the competition?

The program is open to all schools within the 16 regions of Ghana. To register your school for this year’s competition, kindly access the link here School Farm Competition – Kosmos Innovation Center (kicghana.org)

The Application should be from an official representative of the school such as the Head Teacher or a staff member designated by the Head Teacher to apply on behalf of the school. An alumni may not directly apply. They can however inform the school to apply.

The SFC now covers 198 junior high and senior high schools across 11 regions in 2023 with more than 18,000 young students benefitting as of end of year 2023.

The participating school should have a dedicated land for the School Farm, must have teaching staff allocated to supervise the children, and must also agree to adhere to all the safety, safeguarding, and program reporting procedures involved in the program implementation. For more information about the requirements, please visit https://kicghana.org/school-farm-competition/

The School Farm Competition introduces students in junior and senior high schools to agriculture innovation by focusing on horticulture. The students learn from concepts such as nursing seedlings, transplanting, cultivation beds and the right application use of approved chemicals and fertilizer, as well as the use of PPEs. Through the practical experience, the programme seeks to create a change in mindset about seeing agriculture as a form of punishment, to seeing it as an economically viable activity.

Yes, the School Farm Competition for all students in junior and senior high schools who are into agriculture innovation 

Blue Skies Foundation voluntarily decided to hand over the governance of the program to KIC. At KIC, we have seen the viability of the School Farm Competition, and how it has created a mindset shift among young people, about the prospects of agriculture. Many schools have benefitted from the program, with initiatives such as school canteens, support other school infrastructure and helped the larger community to see agriculture differently, as a farm business.

KIC has partnered with the Mastercard Foundation, who provide funding support for the program implementation. KIC also works with other stakeholders , as well as other Consultants.

KIC has a corporate safeguarding policy, where procedures are in place to protect children, and communities we work with, including adults at-risk, from sexual abuse or exploitation, or other harmful and inappropriate behaviour, carried out by any staff of the KIC or its partners. Particularly for the School Farm Competition, we ensure the safety of all the participants of the program by providing agricultural kits including personal protective equipment (PPEs).

KIC believes in a long-term approach to addressing mindset change about agriculture and the agricultural industry at both the secondary and tertiary educational levels. By so doing, more students will develop interest in participating in programs related to entrepreneurship within the agricultural  sector, later in life.

The School Farm Competition is distinctively different from the School Feeding Program, and its main purpose is to create awareness about the benefits of agriculture. Some schools may however have some other additional benefits for participating in the program, but this is not the primary motivation for KIC.