The European Union Resilience Against Climate Change (EU-REACH) project has been officially introduced to members of the Upper West Region House of Chiefs with the aim of creating awareness and soliciting support in the implementation of the project interventions.
The project was rolled out in 2019 but a number of challenges including COVID-19 obstructed the idea to meet the Traditional Authorities as a house to officially introduce the project to them even though they have representation in most of their programmes and activities.
Mr Prosper Wie, the Technical Advisor for the EU-REACH Project, in a presentation to the House in Wa, said time was now right to officially introduce the project to the Chiefs and also share with them some of the achievements so far.
He said the idea was hinged on what they intended to do as a project, which was to help build resilience when it comes to climate change, adding that they would need the support of the chiefs to ensure an inclusive implementation of the project.
Touching on the achievements of the project so far, Mr Wie said through the community outreach tree planting exercise, they had been able to assist communities to plant about 42,000 trees in 36 communities with about 70 per cent survival rate.
He said each household was given five fruit and shade trees to plant, adding that through effective monitoring, those that did not survive were replaced, an indication that they did not plant trees but monitored for survival.
The Technical Advisor said the project also established conservation agriculture demonstration plot for purposes of training farmers in 18 communities, adding that IT training was also being offered to some 93 officers of the District Assemblies.
Mr Wie said a Conservation Agriculture Dissemination Centre of Excellence was also being established at the Babile Agriculture Station whilst they also supported the ripping of some 300 acres of land for farmers.
Additionally, he said the project supported the farmers with planters to plant about 400 acres of land this year. They also developed community land use maps, which comprised everything about how communities should use their lands to achieve the needed resilience against climate change.
The Technical Advisor said the project also brought together stakeholders in an anti-bushfire management forum to discuss ways to manage the annual ritual of bushfires in the region.
Source: GNA
