The Millar Institute for Transdisciplinary and Development Studies in the Upper East Region, has been for months now, researching into finding alternatives to tree charcoal. The results of the research, according to the school, have received positive commendation.
The grass briquettes project was embarked by the University with an attempt to produce charcoal from grass in order to mitigate the impact of climate change and preserve the ecosystem.
Speaking at the second series dialogue conference at the university’s main campus, Professor David Millar, President of the institute said, the continued production of tree charcoal is having a negative effect on the environment.
According to Prof. Millar burning of bush which is prohibited by the laws of Ghana still continues to happen daily, especially in the savanna regions where the culprits go unpunished and thus do more harm than good to the environment. Large scale adoption and use of grass briquettes would solve the problem.
“It is the Grass briquettes project, and it simply means making charcoal from grass not from trees. And this is what we have been piloting over time and we have seen that it is possible to convert grass to charcoal. And gradually if the communication goes as we expect it to, it might gradually replace the role of the tree charcoal. We know especially in the savanna regions the destructive effect of wildfires and of cutting trees to use for charcoal.”
“We believe in the principle of looking for alternatives rather than the continuous banning. There are laws and bylaws on bushfire management. If somebody burns a bush, the person should be arrested and prosecuted but it is not working. So even the laws that exist about wildfire are not working, so we are now experimenting with alternatives that are not the policing type but that will motivate people to invest in managing the resource,” he said.
The conferences brought together various stakeholders to dialogue to create a grass economy for northern Ghana.
Source:A1Radioonline.Com|101.1MHZ|David Azure |Bolgatanga|
