Project Goals

Introduction

Lagoons are productive coastal systems providing a wide range of ecosystem services including food supply, nursery habitats, nutrient cycling, etc. Expansion in agricultural activities around coastal lagoons due to population growth has resulted in large export of nutrients into these lagoons. This has led to adverse effects such as algal blooms, creation of low oxygen zones and acidification of bottom waters which are harmful to the ecology, fisheries and biodiversity of these lagoons.

It is for this reason that the Keta lagoon, which is the largest and most productive coastal lagoon in Ghana, has in recent times witnessed significant changes in its ecological structure, mainly, due to high influx of nutrients from farms in its watershed. 

The coastal watershed project which is run by the department of Marine Science in collaboration with the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) and The World Academy of Science (TWAS) aims at:

Reduce the flux of fertilizers into the Keta lagoon by developing easily accessible, cheaper and user-friendly Android/IVR soil nutrient testing kits to guide the use of fertilizers by farmers.

The project will:

  1. Develop quick paper strip soil nutrient test kits coupled to an android app/IVR system for use by farmers to test and interpret soil nutrient levels prior to fertilizer use.
  2. Build farmer capacity on the use of the soil nutrient test kits.
  3. Design a two-year water quality monitoring program for the Keta lagoon to collect water quality data before and after the use of the project’s test kits.

Contact Us

info@coastalwatershed.com

GCWNMP 2020