Moses Kanduri's vision isclear, and lofty.
"We want to turnprisons into agricultural ventures, to stop hunger in the region, to help theinhabitants fight high food prices," says the administrator of the West AfricanDevelopment Objective. The organization's based in Accra, the capital of Ghana,but also has offices in Benin and Nigeria.
"Wepromote sustainable agriculture, and want to link up countries in West Africa to achieve our goals. Wealso connect local groups with international organizations with the aim oflearning more about improving agricultural practices in Africa," Kanduriexplains.
He notes that the rationale behind his brainwave is"simple but ambitious." According to Kanduri's research, Ghana's governmentspends about US$ 80 million every financial year to feed 47,000 prisoners.
"Our view is that thismoney could be better used elsewhere ? for poverty relief, for example ? andthat the prisoners should be given the means and the training that willeventually enable them to largely feed themselves."
Kanduri plans the first oftwo pilot projects at a prison near the town of Nsawam in eastern Ghana, about40 kilometers from Accra.
"Nsawam is known as thebreadbasket of Ghana. Women here bake a lot of bread, and then they sell it allday to people passing through the town in buses and cars on the way to Accra,"he tells VOA.
Kanduri says his secondinitial project is to be located at a jail near the southwestern town ofKenyasi, in Ghana's Brong Ahafo region.
"This is a gold miningarea, with a lot of fertile land that has yet to be used. The Ghana prisonservice owns a lot of the land there, and they have big prisons there."
Kanduriacknowledges that prisons are usually places where people who've committedcrimes "are supposed to be "rehabilitated."
Butin Ghana, he says, "little emphasis" is placed on this. "Prisons are places ofhard labor, where those incarcerated are punished with tilling the land, forexample, and other harsh treatment. The way prisons in Ghana presently operate,I believe, means they are not places that ultimately deter criminals fromcrime. The whole prison experience simply hardens them because of hard labor,"Kanduri emphasizes.
"Wewant to change this system that hardly benefits anyone by giving the prisonersa financial interest in making sure their small farms are successful foodproducers," he attests.
Kandurisays he's spoken to "many, many prisoners" as part of research ahead of theproject, and most are overwhelmingly in favor of it. He recalls one specificconversation with a man who was a multiple offender, having returned to prisonfor various crimes most of his life.
"WhenI asked him why he'd been in and out of prison, what led to him to committingmore crimes after he'd been in jail, he told me that prison taught him nothing,that it gave him no skills that he could use when he was free. In fact," saysKanduri, "all it did was provide a place where he could meet up with fellowprisoners, where they'd pass the time by plotting new crimes. So when he wasreleased, he went out to implement the criminal plans. That's all he knew howto survive."
Kanduri says his project will begin by selecting 200"enthusiastic" convicts at both prisons, and "getting them each access to anacre of state land." Following this, a team of agricultural consultants willtrain the chosen prisoners.
"This training is going toinclude some kind of guidance and counseling that will set their minds straightthat the farming they will do is not a kind of punishment but it's kind ofrehabilitating them and giving them skills that will be helpful when they comeout of prison," he says.
Kandurimaintains that he'll make sure the criminals "understand they're going to beowners of the project?. Simply put, the prisoners will be shareholders in the business venturesthat come about as a result of the project."
Thedevelopment worker stresses that this is the "only way" to guarantee hisinitiative's success.
"When somebody is owning aproject that he's going to benefit from, he's going to put all his efforts intoit!" he exclaims.
Kandurihas planned for the prisoners to begin with maize production, "because about 80percent of Ghanaian food is made from maize?. But there are plans to get themto raise chickens, for eggs and poultry, soya beans and millet. We're going tobe targeting goods that have ready markets in West Africa."
Hepredicts that at the end of the first season, the participants will cultivateabout 3,000 bags of maize and says half of the yield will "immediately" be given to theGhanaian prison service.