In the northern regions of Ghana, over half of the population live in poverty and rely on farmland for food and income. But the climate crisis is making rainfall unpredictable and drought and floods are becoming more frequent and severe.
Farmers are forced to overuse their land in an attempt to grow enough crops to eat and sell. As a result, soil that was once fertile is no longer able to support life. This means that many people are facing hunger and poverty.
The project aims to support farmers in the northern regions of Ghana to restore and protect the land. The project is also supporting women — who often have limited opportunities to earn an income — to process and sell tree products like shea butter.
Farmers will learn sustainable agriculture techniques, and develop ‘Climate Adaption Plans’ to help tackle the effects of the climate crisis. Women’s farmer groups will also be supported with access to social protection schemes like savings groups and disaster relief funds.
Due to the COVID-19 global health crisis, we’ve had to adapt our project to ensure that we keep the people we work with safe and well. To support communities during the pandemic, relief items like rice, face masks, and soap, were distributed to 4,000 women. We also helped raise awareness of coronavirus and how its spread can be prevented.
Over 1,500 people received training on social protection schemes like savings groups. Some community members also started to enhance their shea butter, honey, and farm enterprises.
We are grateful to the EU for funding this project and to our implementing partners, ActionAid Ghana, and URBANET.
This project is funded by the European Union via ActionAid Ghana. This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Tree Aid and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.