CREDIT PACKAGE FOR SMALL-SCALE FARMERS (BACK PAGE)

Small-scale farmers at Gbledi Gbogame in the Hohoe municipality of the Volta Region are to be assisted with a credit package under a GH¢23,000 micro-finance scheme to boost productivity and enhance their livelihood.
Farmers from three out of the 32 farmers groups, namely, the Unity Group, the Dagbanadu Trading Group and the Elikplim Trading Group, who completed a training course on entrepreneurial skills for income-generating activities have been given GH¢9,400 out of the package.
The scheme is being accessed by small-scale farmers selected from three communities for sacrificing their farmlands for the execution of the Afadjato Agumatsa Community Forest Conservation (AACFC) project. The communities are Fodome Ahor, Gbledi Gbogame and Chebi.
The launch of the programme at the weekend coincided with the inauguration of a 21-member Community Resource Management Area (CREMA) Committee, tasked with the objective of encouraging the fringe communities to take active part in the management and control of the natural resources in the project area.
The committee, under the leadership of Major Engilbert Adoboe (retd), is made up of seven members each chosen from the three fringe communities of the project.
The AACFC project began in 1998 as a collaborative initiative between the people of Ahor, Chebi and Gbogame and the Ghana Wildlife Society (GWS), with sponsorship from The Netherlands government.
Launching the scheme, the Executive Director of GWS, Dr Erasmus Owusu, said the project would consolidate and build on the achievements made in the first phase.
"The GWS is more committed to the conservation of the forest through community-based eco-tourism on the Afadjato- Agumatsa range and ensure that the people have alternative means of livelihood, rather than massive reliance on the forest and its resources," he said.
Dr Owusu announced that the revolving loan would be managed by the Christian Rural Aid Network (CRAN), Ghana for a one-year period at an interest-free rate and, therefore, cautioned the recipients not to see the loans as gifts.
Inaugurating the 21-member committee, the Zonal Manager of the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission in charge of the Greater Accra, Eastern and Volta regions, Mr John Naada, charged the members to work as a team to justify the huge investment made in the project.
He said the project would become a showpiece and a source of knowledge where tourists would gather information on eco-tourism promotion and wildlife species for medicinal, educational and research purposes.
For his part, Mr Hanson Agboso, the Project Manager, stated that the collection of biodiversity and socio-economic baseline data, the establishment of a community nature reserve, the promulgation of bye-laws and the preparation of a 10-year conservation plan were some of their achievements.