The Coalition for Change (C4C) a nongovernmental organisation operating in Upper West Region has trained 117 farmers on sustainable environmentally-friendly livelihood adaptation (SELA).
The farmers comprising 111 females and six males who came from the Nimbare, Kompoare and Kunchani communities in the Jirapa District were also trained on bee keeping and soap making as alternative livelihoods to their peasant farming last year.
Madam Rubelyn Yap, Executive Director of C4C told the Ghana News Agency that the farmers were not only provided with training but were also supported with seed capital and materials as well as other logistics to start their business ventures.
She said a United Kingdom Charity Organisation Ghana Outlook (GO) was funding the project, noting that there were still so many farmer groups in the communities needing training.
The training was in line with the C4C’s attempt at mitigating practices injurious to the environment especially in the dry season when farmers hustle for survival and to create alternative livelihoods for people to adapt in the medium and long term.
Madam Yap explained that the project initially was aimed to support underprivileged women in beekeeping and soap making for increased household incomes and food security as alternative to environmental degradation practices but was later extended to men to complement their incomes.
The C4C Executive Director expressed disappointment that the practices of bush burning for hunting, tapping of wild honey, charcoal burning and unsustainable agricultural practices were widely practiced in most communities in the Region.
She said the C4C would roll-out environmentally friendly strategies and best farming practices as well as provide economic livelihoods training to the people in deprived rural communities to increase incomes.
“It is important that while we implement campaigns against these, we also find alternative means to empower the people to move away from such practices,” Madam Yap said.
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