SADA urged to consider value addition to grass to reduce poverty
A Commissioner of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Professor David Millar, has urged the leadership of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) to consider value addition to grass in the ecological zone to help reduce the growing incidence of poverty and bushfires in the area.
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According to him, “grass could be used for the manufacturing of charcoal through the process of briquetting thereby reducing bush fires, degradation of the forest and also creating jobs for the people.”
The commissioner observed that by adhering to such a proposal, the vast resource of grassland in the zone could be turned into income generating ventures to improve on the livelihoods of the people.
Briquetting
Briquetting is a process where raw materials such as grass, saw dust and human waste are compressed under high pressure to form a round or square substance (briquette) that can be used as fuel for heating purposes.
Fair
Prof. Millar was speaking at a two-day knowledge fair organised by SADA in collaboration with some research institutions, including the University for Development Studies (UDS) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Tamale in the Northern Region. It was on the theme: "Enhancing research into policy and practice".
Employment
Prof. Millar also noted that because many people, particularly farmers in the savannah ecological zones saw grass as waste material, that was partly the reason why they always set it on fire resulting in the destruction of farmlands.
He, however, indicated that, "when you monetise grass, we will have owners because people will protect them thus reducing poverty and bushfires".
According to him, if SADA paid attention to grass briquettes production, it could create more job opportunities for graduates within the SADA zone.
"So we can have two or three graduates coming together to set up their own factory to produce the grass briquettes", he said.
Stakeholders
The Chief Executive Officer of SADA, Mr Charles Abugre, said the fair was to enable SADA to share ideas with its key research stakeholders on how to improve agriculture in its operative areas.
"We partnered to convene this fair as a knowledge sharing day to share knowledge about what our collaborators have been working on," he said.
Protection
Mr Abugre further indicated that SADA was putting in place measures to protect the Black and White Volta basins in order to prevent them from drying up.
He said the life of the people largely depended on those rivers and that when the Volta basin dried up, it could lead to drought in the country.
