By Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Bolgatanga, Sept. 22, GNA – The Savanna Agricultural Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-SARI) has trained women and youth in selected communities in the Upper East Region in soap and pomade production.
The training was to create alternative livelihood opportunities and promote sustainable use of natural resources.
The communities are in Gaare in the Talensi District and Pintensah in the Builsa South District.
The training, organised under the “Sahelian Landscape: Landscape of Opportunities: Widening Proven Furrows (LOGMe II)” project, was aimed at equipping community groups with skills to produce liquid and solid soap as well as pomade using shea butter for the local market.
Dr Iddrisu Yahaya, the Principal Investigator of the LOGMe II project and Principal Research Scientist at CSIR-SARI, said the intervention was introduced as part of efforts to provide alternative livelihoods for communities and reduce pressure on restored landscapes.
He said the initiative built on the experience of LOGMe I, during which a similar activity was undertaken at Awaradone in the Talensi District, where it attracted considerable interest from community members.
Dr Yahaya said five communities were expected to benefit from the livelihood intervention, including Gaare in the Talensi District and Pintensah in the Builsa South District of the Upper East Region as well as Pieng in the Sissala East Municipality, Doggoh and Dazugri in the Jirapa Municipality in the Upper West Region.
He said the training at Gaare and Pintensah was conducted over two days each and attracted more than 420 women and youth, adding that the training was practical, with participants receiving hands-on training in the production process.
He said equipment used for the training had been handed over to the beneficiary women’s groups and would be set up to enable them to operate the activity as a business and produce soap for the market.
The equipment included soap moulding machines, hydrometers, plastic basins, buckets, wooden tables, plastic containers, measuring cups, scrapers, rubber aprons, lining rubbers, utility gloves, stirring sticks, nose masks and safety goggles.
Dr Yahaya said the project would encourage Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) in the communities to adopt soap production as an income-generating activity to strengthen their financial inclusion and livelihood strategies.
He added that individuals with the capacity could also take up the activity, although the project was providing the equipment to women’s groups rather than individuals.
He explained that the soap and pomade production formed part of the project’s value-chain activities, with shea serving as one of the key raw materials for the products.
Dr Yahaya said providing alternative livelihoods was important to discourage community members from depending on activities such as charcoal production and the cutting of trees for household use and income generation as well as help add value to shea resources.
The LOGMe II project, which builds on the achievements of LOGMe I, is being implemented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in five Sahelian countries, including Ghana, Burkina Faso, Niger, Benin and Senegal.
The three-year project is funded by the Italian Ministry of Environment and Energy Security through the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Global Mechanism.
In Ghana, the project is being implemented in partnership with CSIR-SARI, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in 15 communities across four districts, including Talensi and Builsa South in the Upper East Region, and Sissala East and Jirapa in the Upper West Region.
The project seeks to improve livelihoods by combining environmental restoration with entrepreneurship and positioning farmers and community members to participate more profitably in agricultural value chains.
GNA
Edited by Caesar Abagali/Benjamin Mensah
Reporter: Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Reporter’s email: [email protected]