Officials inspect Daboya nursery plantation
A team of officials from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), a body under the United Nations Organisation set up to raise funds to undertake environmental activities have paid an inspection visit to Savanna Plantations, a plantation development organisation based in the Northern Region.
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The officials were at Daboya to inspect a two million shea seedlings nursery site developed by the organisation and a proposed 100 acre shea plantation site intended to be developed in July, next year.
Explaining the reasons for their visit, the leader of the team, Dr George Ortsin, said GEF was set up by the United Nations Organisation to raise funds to undertake activities in five areas relating to environmental management.
He mentioned the five areas as biodiversity, sustainable land management, climate change, management of international waters and mining and the use of chemicals.
He said groups and communities undertaking projects relating to these five thematic areas were encouraged to apply for assistance from the fund in the form of a proposal to enable them to undertake such projects.
“As a way of assessing the proposal, a field trip is undertaken to the activity or project site to ascertain whether the project merits the grant requested and that is why we are in Daboya today to see what Savanna Plantations is already doing before a decision can be taken on their request”, he added.
He said Savanna Plantations had sent a Gh 45,000.00 proposal to GEF asking them for assistance to raise the two million shea seedlings to start a shea plantation and to supply interested shea farmers in the savanna area with the shea seedlings.
He said looking at the potential of the shea plantation development in alleviating poverty in the north, GEF decided to consider the proposal but had to first of all do the necessary assessments before a decision could be taken on the proposal.
“After this field visit, a report will be written to the National Steering Committee of GEF, who will look at the report and the proposal of Savanna Plantations along side other proposals and each one of them will be evaluated on its merit”, he stated.
The Project Co-ordinator of Savanna Plantations ,Mr Issah Sulemana, said that the successful raising of the two million seedlings would help break the chains of poverty in many households in the north.
He said many households depended on shea in different forms for survival but the dwindling of the shea trees population in the environment as a result of human and natural factors was worsening the poverty situation of many people.
“ It is in view of the gravity of the situation that we in Savanna Plantations have taken it upon ourselves to blaze the trail by venturing into the cultivation of shea as way of setting example for others to follow and also to restore the source of livelihood of many people”, he added.
By Marcelinus Dery/Daily Graphic/Ghana
