By Albert Allotey
Accra, Oct. 26, GNA – European Union-funded Landscapes and Environmental Agility across the Nation (LEAN) Project targets to raise 32,000 Shea and 10,000 Rosewood Seedlings to tackle climate change and desertification in Northern Ghana.
Due to population pressure, woodlands in northern Ghana are shrinking at an alarming rate.
A statement issued by the Project team said the livelihoods of farmers were facing crisis on multiple fronts.
It said despite that, tree felling for charcoal production and bush burning, coupled with unsustainable farming practices, urbanisation, and construction persist, and contribute to severe deforestation.
This is resulting in the loss of biodiversity, putting farmers’ livelihoods in serious jeopardy.
According to the statement Madam Mary Jabiuk Baman, a LEAN project beneficiary and a mother of two together with other farmers in Sori No. 1 in the West Gonja Municipality have already begun experiencing the impact of these activities.
She expressed the fear that the practices would take away their livelihood if nothing was done and believed inclusiveness was foundational to the national landscape restoration processes and women, who suffer most in all this need to be given the opportunity to lead in the landscape restoration processes.
It said solving the complex situation required an integrated approach to create a productive, prosperous, equitable, and resilient landscape.
It was for this reason that the LEAN Project being implemented by World Vision Ghana in the West Gonja and Kassena Nankana Districts was using an integrated approach to build farmers’ resilience by promoting sustainable environmental practices.
The project is a four-year intervention that seeks to directly support the national efforts to conserve biodiversity, improve the livelihoods of small-scale farmers, build climate resilience, and reduce emissions from land-use changes across Ghana’s savannah, high forest, and transition zones.
Other implementing partners include Rainforest Alliance, EcoCare Ghana, and Tropenbos Ghana.
The project is also addressing three structural barriers that have historically hindered efforts by governments, civil society organizations, and the private sector to halt land degradation and deforestation through the uptake of landscape approaches.
Mr Joseph Edwin Yelkabong, LEAN Project Manager said, “Climate change was manifesting at a rapid pace in northern Ghana, and to build communities and small-scale farmers’ resilience, World Vision had trained and built capacities of 2,999 farmers on integrated land management (ILM) approaches.”
He said aside empowering communities and local farmers with skills and knowledge on Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), the project was facilitating the establishment of alternative livelihoods for the beneficiary communities.
FMNR is a low-cost land restoration approach used to combat poverty and hunger among poor farmers.
The practice increases food and wood (timber) production and builds farmers’ resilience to climate shocks and stresses.
This is minimising farmers’ reliance on forest resources and drastically reduces forest and land degradation.
“In addition to this, World Vision Ghana facilitated training on conservation agricultural practices such as zero tillage, green manuring, burning-free and mulching for 1,056 farmers, significantly improving their skills and knowledge on conservation agriculture practices and soil management,” he added.
So far, more than 27,200 seedlings of varied tree species such as cashew, acacia, mahogany, Kapok, and teak have been distributed to local farmers.
Rosewood and shea are unique tree species with both ecological and economic advantages; with a long lifespan and the ability to withstand harsh weather conditions with its rich in nitrogen and high in demand within the wood industry while shea provides butter (oil) that is globally sought by the cosmetic industry.
Diversifying the livelihoods of natural dependence-population can help the project achieve its objective.
It is based on this that the project is undertaking a survey to identify additional livelihood and income generation activities for farmers in its operational communities.
World Vision Ghana is achieving these by working closely with decentralized structures, local community leaders, and farmers and gradually and sustainably restoring degraded landscapes, improving soil fertility, enhancing the ecosystem, and improving the lives and livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable farmers.
GNA