Dr Kwaku Afriyie, Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, has commissioned a gari processing centre at Sor No.1 community in the West Gonja Municipality of the Savannah Region.
He said with the commissioning of the centre, which was already the main economic activity for women in the area, was going to increase and therefore appealed to the West Gonja Municipal authorities to endeavour to link up the processors to external markets to enable them cash-in from their business.
Dr Afriyie was on a field visit to Sustainable Land and Water Management Project (SLWMP) sites to hand over completed projects including value added facilities and water systems among others to beneficiary communities in Northern Ghana.
Dr Afriyie who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sefwi-Wiawso Constituency in the Western North Region lauded the initiative by the SLWMP and its partners, adding the project would help empower the women in the area.
The Minister said the project would contribute to environmental sustainability as the women would now be engaged in gari processing rather than engaging in felling trees for charcoal production.
He highlighted the need to scale up the project to other communities to enable more women to benefit.
On the destruction of farms by cattle, Dr Afriyie appealed to the Savannah Regional Minister, Mr Saeed Muhazu Jibrill, during a courtesy call on him, to liaise with the Traditional Authorities in the Region to address the menace to protect the livelihoods of the people.
Mr Peter Claver Anyeembey, the West Gonja Municipal Director of Agriculture, said the main goal of the SLWMP project was to promote the adoption of sustainable land use practices for land conservation and maintenance of ecosystem balance.
Mr Dizooya Gberika, the Chief of Sor No. 1, thanked the Minister and the SLWMP for the project, which he said would help ease the struggle women go through when processing gari for the market, as well as increase their income levels.
The Minister also visited the Legriyiri and Selle Communities in the Daffiama-Bussie-Issa District of the Upper West Region where he commissioned a drying platform and also inspected water systems in the agricultural landscape.
Mr Nadi Imoro Sanda, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Daffiama-Bussie-Issa District, outlined some achievements of the SLWMP in the District to include conservation of water using bonding for crop production especially rice in Legriyiri, Kojokpere, and Jolinyiri.
He said farmers were also supplied with tree crops to management in three communities namely, Duang, Seele and Kamahego in order to conserve water for livestock, watering, and other biodiversity habitats.
Mr Sanda noted that in terms of infrastructure, a gari processing facility was under construction at Jolinyiri to promote agribusiness development and alternative livelihood for the community.
He said a drying platform constructed at Legriyiri would help reduce post-harvest losses due to moisture content and also protect animal destruction of processed produce after harvest.