B-BOVID to educate 4,000 farmers and students on climate change mitigating measures

By
Mildred Siabi-Mensah, GNA

Prestsir (W/R), Sept. 4, GNA – The Building
Business on Values, Integrity and Dignity (B-BOVID) Limited, a social
enterprise, is set to educate farmers and school children on biodiversity
techniques and other environmentally responsible practices.

This would serve as a stop gap on global
warming and other issues related to climate change.

The project, executed with financial support
from the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany (FDR) with Technical
assistance from Transforming Rural Agricultural Communities through Organic
Re-engineering (TRACTOR), would include 3,000 farmers and 1,000 students in 25
communities in the Mpohor, Ahanta West, Wassa East and Nzema Districts of the
Western Region.

Mr Issa Ouedraogo, the Executive Director of
B-BOVID, said the project would create public awareness about the dangers posed
by climate change to the environment, humans, animals, plant life and survival
of the human race.

He said the programme aims at educating
participants on new approaches in agro-forestry and biodiversity in the Western
Region, would work around models such as workshops, presentations and demonstrations
by experts from TRACTOR including site visits to B-BOVID Agro-forestry Model
Centre at Angu in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis, where participants would be
given practical training on smart agricultural methods in combating climate
change and ensuring food security.

Mr Issa Ouedraogo, said through the project,
the farmers and students would initiate the processes to find creative
solutions to combat the menace beginning from the level of the community.

He said the farmers could use the alley cropping
method of cultivating food or planting in rows amidst other timber species or
variety of crops, or the Silvo pasture where trees and livestock are raised on
the same farm to reduce soil erosion, regenerate soil fertility rapidly, reduce
pest and diseases and reduce money required to buy feed for animals, adding
that the two models were perfect for the Western Region.

He said the agroforestry model sits on a 120-
acre land and would be used as a demonstrational farm as it houses about 4,000
multi-purpose trees including moringa, ‘prekese’, baobab, neem, teak acasia,
mahogany, ‘ofram’, ‘emere’ and ‘atoa’ could be found planted along the fringes
of the Garden of Eden and the entire Agro Forest model farm at Angu, to improve
the environment and climate.

Mr Ouedraogo said the 16 -acre Garden of Eden,
an organic farm, was home to avocado, red orange, tangerine, mango, guava,
cashew, kola nut growing naturally without agro-chemical, “This is part of our
vision and it’s a booster. We can promote jobs, support the Planting for Food
and Jobs Programme (PFJ) and even religious tourism and research.”

The three dug out brooks serves as a dam to
provide an all year-round water system for  
vegetable production including cabbage, onion and cucumber, fish farming
and also create an efficient ecosystem.

“The B-BOVID Agroforestry Mode Centre is a
unique place and the only place in the Western Region that undertakes climate
change mitigating activities.

Its major features include large acres of
palm, rubber plantation, organic farm demonstration fields, irrigation dams,
fish ponds, an economic tourism centre, The Garden of Eden and an apiary.”

All over the world, Mr Ouedraogo  said, climate change has become an important
issue dominating policy discourse, as severe weather and climate conditions hit
parts of the Western  and Eastern Europe,
Asia and Africa, given rise to warm temperature, escalating  heat waves, sand storms and bush fires as well
as the loss of lives and property.

The phenomena posed a threat not only to humans
but also aquatic and plant life.

He said deforestation, converting forest lands
by burning fossils to produce carbon dioxide were some of the conditions that
promoted climate change adding that there is the need for all to sit up as a
nation to halt the process.

GNA

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