This Black History Month, we spotlight a 10-year, UBC-wide program launched in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation that welcomes academically talented young people from Sub-Saharan Africa to study at UBC. The Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program is a unique opportunity for scholars to further their education with a goal to contribute to the economic growth and social transformation of their home communities. We spoke with Edwin Aluku, one of the scholars enrolled at UBC Forestry & Environmental Stewardship during the 2024/25 academic year about their studies and goals.

Edwin Aluku
“Humans must be at the centre of finding solutions to the problems of environmental degradation that humans have caused.”
Edwin grew up witnessing his mother’s struggles farming and trading in a changing world. “Farming is a main source of livelihoods in our region,” explains Edwin, whose family lives in the rural community of Chuchuliga, Ghana. “A year without enough rainfall to support crops has major repercussions for families and the economic value of farms in our area.”

Edwin is interested in social issues related to forest management and climate change on the African continent, including the identification of irrigation solutions for food crops beyond rice. Rice is among the few crops presently benefitting from irrigation in the landlocked Builsa District of north-eastern Ghana, which receives on average 700-1,000 millimetres of rain each year. For comparison, BC’s south coast receives an annual average precipitation of 1,380-2,100 millimetres. Edwin’s work responds to increased pressure on crops in the region from climate change-related droughts and shifting weather patterns.
“Without irrigation, we can only farm during the wet season from early May until October,” shares Edwin. “With irrigation systems that draw from nearby rivers, we could extend the growing season and increase the predictability of crop production.”
Before enrolling at UBC Forestry & Environmental Stewardship, Edwin launched the EcoRice Ghana start-up, which recently received seed funding from the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Entrepreneurship Fund. “The funding will support expanding EcoRice Ghana’s rice processing facilities for drying crops to minimize post-harvest losses and improve farmers’ return on investment,” Edwin says.
Edwin’s ambition is to continue to grow his start-up and become a forest manager and sustainability consultant with international organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
This article was published in Branchlines in Summer 2025. Edwin Aluku has since graduated.








