ZEFP Support Communities Susceptible To Climate Change Effects

The Zasilari Ecological Farms Project (ZEFP), a non-governmental organization based in Walewale in the West Mamprusi District of the Northern Region of Ghana, has provided alternative livelihood support to five communities that are prone to climate change vulnerability effects.

The support was part of the implementation of a 15-month project dubbed “Expanding Climate Change Resilience in Northern Ghana Project (ECCRING)” and funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Canadian Hunger Foundation (CHF) and implemented in partnership with Northern Ghana’s Association of Church-Based Development NGOs (ACDEP).

ZEFP, an implementing partner of the ECCRING in the West Mamprusi District is currently supporting 1000 individual smallholder farmers; 200 people from each of the five communities namely Sayoo, Zangum, Nayoku, Guakudow and Guabuliga with climate change resilient livestock breed and technology, Project Coordinator Issifu Sulemana Jobila told Savannahnews in an interview. 

According to him, a total of 2080 goats of local breed  and improved sahelian male goats had been given to the five communities to enable them adapt to climate change effects. Adding, he said each community had been given 80 Sahelian goats to take care of them, so that they could proliferate and enable them and their families to stay off the natural vegetation as a source of livelihood that often comes in the form of hunting, charcoal production, tree felling and among others. 

Mr. Jobila also explained that, the selection criterion was based on individuals, whose livelihoods were being destroyed by climate change impacts, adding that farmyard manure particularly from the livestock support would boost an organic agriculture programme introduced alongside the ECCRING project.

ZEFP provides support to Women and Farmer Associations with the aim of complementing the nation’s efforts in fighting rural poverty in Northern Ghana. The principal objective of ZEFP is to upscale environmentally friendly innovative approach in food production to improving livelihoods of the rural poor. 

The ECCRING project was announced early this year by the CHF in the lead up to the 2013 International Women's Day and is expected to support women and other vulnerable farmers in Northern Ghana to adapt to increasingly erratic rainfall and rising temperatures in the region.  The project sought to build on earlier successes in the region by expanding into 18 new rural communities to increase harvests and augment incomes amongst families.

"Rising temperatures, less predictable rainfall and shorter growing seasons are all making it harder for farmers— especially women —to support their families in Northern Ghana," said Garry Comber, President and CEO of the Canadian Hunger Foundation in his address when he announced the package for the project in March 2013. 

Adding, he said: "Women are disproportionally affected by the challenges of a changing climate. This means a core part of our work must be to strengthen their efforts with tools, seeds, livestock, new farming techniques and other inputs, but also to develop their capacity to claim their role in shaping their communities."

The ECCRING project would raise awareness of the negative impacts of climate change and how they could be reduced, and would build the capacity of regional organizations, districts, communities and beneficiaries to address climate change and manage natural disasters. 

New farming techniques and technologies would also be introduced to increase the use of drought-tolerant crops and improve livestock production methods. Protecting and enhancing natural resources would also be a focus, including growing more trees and controlling bushfires.

Although both women and men would participate in the project, some activities, such as provision of small livestock, fuel-efficient stoves and other income-generating activities, would specifically target women more than men, increasing their control over resources, or reducing their time constraints. Women's increased participation and leadership in community organizations would also be promoted in order to give them a greater voice in decisions that affect them and their families.

10,000 vulnerable rural women and men in the 18 communities including the ones mentioned above would receive direct support, and the project is expected to benefit approximately 50,000 people in total. Household food security and income are both expected to increase by 35% over the 15 months of the project.