GrEEn Project Trains Farmers in Ghana on Sustainable Farming Practices on World Earth Day

World Earth Day is marked every year on April 22, to highlight environmental issues including loss of biodiversity, increasing pollution among others.

The European Union funded Boosting Green Employment and Enterprise Opportunities in Ghana (GrEEn) Project has marked this year's World Earth Day with a training exercise for over 200 rural farmers in the Ashanti and Western Regions on sustainable farming practices and the production of organic fertilizer from animal and plant waste.

The activities led by GrEEn project implementing partners, UN Capital Development Fund and SOS Children’s Villages in Ghana took farmers through exercises on sustainable farming practices which ensure effective soil conservation as well as the development and usage of organic fertilizer from animal and plant waste. Farmers were given the opportunity to demonstrate the production and usage of organic fertilizer.

The goal of this activity is to empower the farmers effectively manage the waste from their farms thus reducing the presence of persistent organic pollutants in the environment as well as reduce their dependence on inorganic fertilizers which are known to degrade farmlands over time.

In an interview with the Country Lead and Programme Manager for UNCDF, Enea Stocco, he said that thanks to the support from the European Union, the GrEEn Project is working with a broad range of stakeholders to raise awareness about climate change and its impact, particularly working at the local level in the Ashanti and Western regions.

“Many of the people living in the communities where the GrEEn project is being implemented are farmers engaged in animal rearing and crop production. Unfortunately, these farmers have to spend a large portion of their income in acquiring fertilizers. There is also a problem of disposing off the fecal waste from the animals. They are either left in open spaces or dumped within the community, which poses grave risks to human health and the environment.

Faced with these challenges, we found it necessary to assist them with technical assistance initiatives, developing and promoting green and circular agriculture,” he said.

The Project Coordinator for SOS GrEEn Project, Shaibu Fuseini urged the farmers to nurture the skills they have acquired and put it to good use. He said “SOS Children’s Villages in Ghana remains committed to improving the state of the world through sustainable production practices. It is our hope that we will continue to roll out other training exercises that raise awareness about climate change”.

About the GrEEn Project

The GrEEn Project is a four-year action from the European Union, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ghana and jointly implemented by UNCDF and the Netherlands Development Organisation, SNV. The project aims to create greater economic and employment opportunities for youth, women and returning migrants by promoting and supporting sustainable, green businesses in the Ashanti and Western Regions of Ghana. GrEEn is implemented under the European Union Emergency Trust Fund (EUTF) for Africa.