It was the break of dawn and as happens in Ghana’s countryside, the sound of the cockerel wakes all to a new day. The rising sun pierced through a thick cloud on an August morning. Its getting hot already at a time when village folks have been expecting rains.
Welcome to Goviefe, a small village in Ghana’s hilly and green Volta Region. Farmers, mostly women gather with small blackish polythene rubbers at a small cocoa seedling farm as a group of boys run past, chasing each other along narrow alleyways between mud-brick huts.
Once upon a time, this part of the country was a major nerve hub of cocoa production- Ghana’s economic backbone.
Goviafe used to be one of the major cocoa producing towns of the Volta Region. Pictured here are two farmers drying new cocoa beans harvested now in the town
“There was life here. We had business booming because we could farm and sell many bags of cocoa back then and we had many businesses opening up here back then,” says Fidelia Adechie, a 45-year old mother of 5 who spent her girlhood life following her family to large cocoa plantations that are no more in Goviefe.
Amedzofe, one of the towns on the Weto ranges is Ghana’s highest human habitation point
A metal cross erected at the summit of Mount Gemi by the German Missionaries in 1880 still under preservation by locals in the Weto ranges
Between 1980 and 83, a harsh drought and wild bushfires followed by reckless tree felling here in the ensuing years brought a once vibrant economic activity on its knees and poor villagers are paying the hard price now.
“We are really suffering now. There are no rains because most of trees were brought down. Our staple crops don’t do well and we are surving at the mercy of a harsh weather,” Adjo.
Today, there is a ray of hope for farmers like Adjo to relive the cocoa glory of the 80s once again.
The Satoyama Initiative
Satoyama is a Japanese word which means mountain area management. Japan is sponsoring the project implemented in Ghana by the UNDP’s Global Environment Fund UNDP-GEF.
The project targets the Weto landscape, a belt of ridges and hills beginning west of Accra and extending northeast into Togo and Benin.
Mount Gemi has a one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Ghana. This one of the natural resources the Satoyama Initiative seeks to conserve
“There are over 500,000 residents in this basin, mainly dependent on farming but there are very harmful practices that affect the ecology and in effects their livelihood. There is fire every year, illegal chain saw operations, farming deep along the slopes and hunting that has eroded the productive vegetation,” says George Ortsin, National Coordinator of the UNDP-GEF.
Over the last two years, farmers like Fidelia and farmers others from 33 communities here have been brought have been put through a training to Restore forests and rehabilitate up to 5000 hectares of degraded land.
Goerge Ortsin says the project adds livelihood empowering activities to support the farmers knowing biodiversity conservation itself is not self-sustaining in the short term.
“We are hoping these cocoa we are nursing would grow in time to support our lives. But that’s not all we do under Satoyama. Some of my friends keep bees, others rear high-end livestock like grasscutter, rabbits and pigs” says Adjo.
Societies in harmony with nature
Now, more than ever, the communities on the Weto range are more empowered to make the change they so desire in their ecosystem.
Farmers in the catchment area of the Satoyama Initiative hope reviving the growth of economic crops like cocoa could boost livelihood standards
Today, agro-forestry technologies to support sustainable agriculture has been introduced to 500 lead farmers, 100 Community Trainers and 120 Farmer Trust Groups.
Sustainable land management techniques for soil fertility improvement, soil conservation, dry season gardening, organic farming and wildfire management have also been conveyed.
Alternative income opportunities and rural enterprises have been established in communities like Goviafe including palm oil processing, moringa, honey, and mushrooms, and packaging of cassava into gari – moving forward, they seek to commercialize these initiatives.
The rainbow rises in Nyangbo-Emli, one of the many beauties of nature in the Weto rang
In Emli Nyamgbo, just a few kilometers up the hills from Goviefe in the Weto range, the story is that of young men and women who are being motivated to stay in the village and work on new farms because of the productivity.
“Most of my friends who left this town to do meager jobs in Accra are coming back to start a career on the farms. Satoyama has shown the way and sustaianable agriculture that is productive and we are going to make it work,” says Elorm Nutsuga who returned from a street hawking job in Accra to begin a cocoa farm under the Satoyama initiative.
The pilot project of this project has ended but these village folks build hopes funds would still be available for more support.
“With all the strides we’ve made, we can drastically cut poverty whiles restoring our degraded vegetation if this project is sustained. That is our hope and prayer,” he says.
A full documentary on the Weto range and how farmers are learning to restore the biodiversity of the area to boost the growth of economic trees like cocoa shows on JoyNews Exclusive at 7 PM, Monday, 15th September, 2014 on the JoyNews Channel on Multi TV.
Source: Justice Baidoo | [email protected]
Date: 18-09-2014 Time: 08:09:32:pm
