Bionic Palm Limited is a Ghanaian company founded in 2007 and a member of the Bionic Group of companies. Bionic Palm is engaged in a number of agricultural projects with a very strong focus on bringing the most advanced technologies in sustainable and organic farming to bear in Sub Saharan Africa.

Currently we are engaged in 2 major projects in Ghana preparing to start more in the near future. For more information go to the Bionic Palm Ltd website.

Jatropha breeding and agronomy

Location:
Accra Plains near Sege

Objectives:
Developing sustainable Jatropha curcas planting material and related agronomic practices. This includes two core objectives:

(1) developing high performing, non-toxic hybrid Jatropha cultivars so the seed meal can be used as animal feed.
(2) developing commercial farming structures that avoid mono culture and focus on a symbiotic ecosystem combining food and fuel crops.

Details about the concept can be studied in this presentation.

Status:
A test farm has been established in late 2008 with a current size of 150ha. 1500ha are available for expansion. Jatropha hedges in various lay outs are tested in combination with a large number of locally adaptable food crops and soil improving inputs like biochar and mycorrhiza. One intention is to develop effective, simple methods for land reclamation building on agriforestry concepts as a backbone.

In 2010 a small poultry farm was added using local methods. We currently rear chicken, guinea fowls and turkeys in a free range configuration. From the end of 2012 we will start adding non-toxic Jatropha cake to the poultry feed to establish long term test results.

Agriforestry based on organic Cocoa backbones

Location:
Gomoa area in the Central Region

Objectives:
Building on the experiences of the food crop/Jatropha test farm a most sustainable organic Cocoa farming model will be implemented. In an agriforestry approach mono culture will be avoided, planting Cocoa double hedges with food crops in between instead. For the first time Bionic Palm has established a JV with families from the local communities to develop this project.

Status:
The first Cocoa nursery with 20,000 plants will be established in the fall of 2012 at a very convenient location already identified. Transplanting will take place at the start of the rainy season in 2013. The main focus will be on ten different test fields of at least one acre where performance will be tested under different locality and agronomic conditions.

Remaining seedlings will be sold on the market or planted in preparation of future commercial orchards. The initial testing phase of the project is planned for 2 years.

More projects are under preparation including a professional large scale poultry farm, innovative small scale Palm Oil processing and a Tiliapia fish farm.