A total of 98 women benefitted from subsidized ploughing services and soya seed bank project in the communities of Boo in Jirapa District and Kalahi and Loggu in Wa East District in the Upper West Region through the Sustainable Agriculture and Livelihood project whilst 3 communities namely Nyadema, Logvogsa and Nyasa in the Builsa South District of the Upper East Region benefitted from 300 mango seedlings through Fruit Trees for Life project of the Coalition for Change (C4C) with the support of Jacob’s Well Appeal- a UK based charity.
In the Sustainable Agriculture and Livelihood project, 45 women benefitted from subsidized ploughing in the Boo, Kalahi and Loggu communities which they paid less than 10 cedi of the commercial rate in their areas for a number of acres they owned whilst the soya seeds, 53 women benefitted from the seed bank project in the communities of Kalahi and Loggu. All women beneficiaries met the criteria of the organization such as earning less than 10 cedi a month and have a land to till. For those beneficiaries of the soya seed bank, they have to return the capital seeds plus interest seeds to the organization at the end of the harvest season for more women to benefit in the succeeding season.
This project was embarked in the hope to support more underprivileged women farmers to uplift their lives and cater for their wards for a healthy well-being.
On the Fruit Trees for Life project, the communities of Nyadema, Logvogsa and Nyasa were selected to host the pilot Fruit Trees project which they preferred to have a mango plantation. 300 seedlings were purchased locally to start the project. Each community was given 100 seedlings as pilot and was distributed in the basic schools in each of the communities whilst others are to be taken care of by the community through the Chief.
The beneficiaries undergo environmental protection training as well as indigenous and scientific knowledge sharing on tree plantation. They were also given fencing materials to protect the seedlings from animals and bush burning.
Through this project, C4C believes that one of the best ways to protect the environment is to support the people whose livelihoods depend on tree and environmental destruction alternatives to earning income instead of the usual felling of trees for charcoal and firewood usage. Through this belief, C4C partnered with Jacob’s Well Appeal to protect the environment and promote an alternative way of generating income.
Jacob’s Well Appeal aimed to plant 1 million trees over Africa. Though ambitious, it is worth the sacrifice due to the multiple impact these trees will have on beneficiaries. Beyond the provision of incomes to needy families, availability of fruits to help reverse malnutrition etc, is the all important roles these trees tend to do to support our fragile earth from further destruction. They are a Christian-based charity i whose mantra is to change the world one life at a time.
C4C team is very grateful to Jacob’s Well for the support in all their initiatives and hope that more partnerships will be built in various projects in the future in the deprived areas of Ghana.
About Coalition for Change (C4C): it is a non-governmental organization which aims to raise secured families using ecologically sustainable local farm base strategies, adaptable income generating activities and available forms of educations as means of closing poverty gap in Ghana. The C4C team up with poor households within deprived communities to eliminate identified forms of obstruction to the full attainment of basic human stateliness through participatory approaches to reduce poverty using gender mainstreaming, self-help communal spirit and promoting quality education
