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

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.

Source: GNA