Fatima Anafu-Astanga
Awaradone (UE), March 4, GNA – The Savanna Agricultural Institute (SARI) has trained the Awaradone women’s group in the Bolgatanga Municipality of Upper East Region in soap and pomade making, to increase their income earning capacities.
The training was funded by the project, Creating Lands of Opportunities, Transforming Livelihoods through Landscape Restoration in the Sahel,” (Lands of Opportunities for Global Mechanism in the Sahel) dubbed LOGMe project.
The LOGMe project which started in 2020 is being implemented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) with funds from the Italian Ministry for Ecological transitions through the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)- Global Mechanism in Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Niger.
In Ghana, CSIR /SARI is one of the main implementing partners in eight communities and four districts notably in the Bolgatanga, Talensi and Bawku West Districts in the Upper East and the Sissala East district in Upper West region.
The Awaradone women’s group made up of over eighty members is benefitting from the soap and pomade making training apart from agricultural related interventions.
Dr Iddrisu Yahaya, the Principal Investigator of SARI in an interview with GNA during the training said the training for the group was part of improving value chains, establishing sustaining production of high value dry land products, market access and improving livelihoods of beneficiaries through capacity building.
Dr Yahaya, who expressed satisfaction at the group’s performance, indicated that it made some extra income from previous farming especially tractor services and seed equipment received under the LOGMe project.
He said the group contributed some resource to the ongoing training to buy sheanuts to process into shea butter which was one of the basic ingredients in soap and pomade making.
Dr Yahaya also noted that SARI provided the ingredients, equipment and payment of the resource persons at a total cost of GHC7,000 and hoped that after the training , the group will generate three folds of their investments while SARI sets them up equipment for them to go into full scale operation since they were mostly idle during the dry season.
In response to how other groups under the project in other districts could also benefit, Dr Yahaya indicated that a similar training would be extended to the Sissala East district, which is expected to be funded by the IUCD.
Meanwhile, Madam Celestina Aduko, the leader of the Awaradone women’s group who spoke to this reporter was full of praise for the LOGMe project and stated that it had changed lives a great deal in the community.
“We have learnt a lot on how to farm well, not just to feed our family but as a business.”
” We were also given seeds, also learnt the application of manure and this is a credit to the community and through the interventions have enabled us to lend seeds to members of the community during planting season instead of traveling distances to buy seeds. We are happy that through LOGME we are seeing improvements in our lives,” she added.
According to the leader, the soap and pomade making training would help engage the young ones in the community who are unable to take part in the dry season farming activities, to be engaged in producing and selling of soap and pomade and help curb migration of youth to the south in search of menial jobs.
GNA