By Yussif Ibrahim
Kwabeng (Ash), Oct. 03, GNA – A team of officials from the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation (MESTI) are in the Ashanti Region to inspect progress of work on the implementation of the Ghana Landscape Restoration and Small-Scale Mining Project (GLRSSMP).
Led by the Minister, Madam Ophelia Mensah Hayford, the team engaged beneficiary farmers and sector institutions involved in the project to ascertain its impact and identify challenges confronting it.
The USD 103.36 Million project seeks to strengthen integrated natural resource management and increase benefits to targeted savannah and cocoa forest landscapes.
It is being implemented by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources in collaboration with MESTI in 26 communities across eight regions.
Due to the integrated approach towards the implementation of the project, other State institutions such as COCOBOD, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Forestry Commission (FC), and the Department of Agriculture are playing diverse roles to achieve the desired outcome.
Over 58,000 farmers in 535 communities have so far been supported under the agriculture component since 2022, when the project commenced, according to Mr. Kinsley Kwako Amoako, Agriculture Focal Person for the project.
He said the Wildlife and Forest Services Divisions of the Forestry Commission were also engaging and supporting additional beneficiaries as part of the project.
A minimum of 18 and maximum of 25 communities per district have been reached in the 26 beneficiary districts so far, Mr. Amoako further disclosed.
The Minister is in the region to learn first hand progress made so far and also interact with direct beneficiaries for feedback on the project implementation.
Her first stop was at Kwabeng in the Asante-Akim South Municipality, where she engaged beneficiary farmers whose moribund cocoa farms are being rehabilitated, and later inspected a farm undergoing rehabilitation in the community.
The team then visited the Municipal Assembly where representatives of the various institutions involved in the project briefed the Minister and her entourage on interventions implemented so far.
They later proceeded to Asiwa in the Bosome Freho District where the same routine was undertaken.
The Minister told the media in an interview that feedback from the beneficiaries had been positive and heartwarming.
“Going forward, we are going to look for more funds to assist more farmers so we can reclaim all the degraded lands, and also restore the nutrients in the soil,” she assured.
She said the project was very impactful and the benefits were not only for the farmers, but Ghana as a whole especially in the fight against climate change.
“Globally, we are fighting climate change so planting trees and greening our environment is part of the control measures in tackling climate change,” the Minister observed.
She encouraged farmers to plant more trees to protect the environment and pledged the Ministry’s commitment to effective implementation of the project to achieve its objectives.
GNA