A Defining Moment

Edward Femi Adeti, Author

So, you want to ask yourself if the world is fair to have eminent and innocent persons either decapitated or gunned down by slaughter-happy terrorists whose only certificates are the thick rag masks they are wearing.

Literature is my religion and in writing (not in journalism) I really want to be recognised as an Elisha of deities like Soyinka, Faulkner and Ron Hubbard. 

This year alone, this ‘religion’ has lost Awoonor, the Homer of African Poetry, just months after the ground-entering of another god who came and walked the earth in human flesh― Achebe. Idols of the pen they are, and more exalted than saints of the ink they will remain. To hurt any of these immortals is to touch God’s anointed and doing His prophets a great deal of impairment.

Awoonor took a sudden exit in Nairobi through a terrorist raid in what has become, for many, a defining moment. The globe can no longer afford to live in increasingly thickening fear, like a loner toddling and groping in the dark, heading nowhere safer and fairer than a bottomless ditch.

Terrorists are in their own slaughter paradise and they have shown that they have no bounds. Even in early childhood schools where infants do not know yet how to spell TERRORISM, cold-faced terrorists pop up and heartlessly show kids depths of terror that sadly will remain in the memories of their parents and countries for ever. 

Those who know how it feels to lose a loved one, and how difficult it is to cope and live on without them, should understand my anger here. And anyone whose fingertip has ever been burnt by the little red flame on a matchstick and still remembers how they kissed that finger should also imagine how much more it would feel to have a deadly dose of gunfire cruise through a full body. That is rage! 

In what is worse than a sheer mockery of humanity, you find what men of global reputation have toiled to achieve for decades sublime at the hands of some beast-hearted, familiar aliens whose job now is to keep a fatigued world awake at midnight. 

We now walk through the streets where a band of rag-wearing rats who are of no use to anybody but to only those who sell their weapons can just get up and bring the world to tears at will just to laugh and pop champagne in secluded, unknown caves. 

There is probably no other way to describe it than to say they are now addicted to killing, guzzling fresh blood and seeing a heavy downpour of tears! And as to who falls victim, where the tragedy must take place and when they will strike, it is found on their blind-hate timetable, known to them only. 

My mourning robe is dipped in deep indigo for my beloved Awoonor, a man I met only once when he was Chairman of Ghana’s Council of State. It is a defining moment. And I am more than convinced that what we are in is no longer the world I knew some days ago. No longer the world I knew.

SADA-Asongtaba Guinea Fowl Project Progressively On Course

The SADA-Asongtaba Guinea Fowl Project which began some months ago amidst controversies is beginning to yield significant results, following the engagement of some service providers (farmers) in the Northern Savannah Ecological Zones (NSEZ).

The joint partnership between the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) and the Asongtaba Cottage Industries and Exchange Programme (ACI&EP) went into an agreement with 12 service providers in the Northern, 4 in the Upper West and 13 in the Upper East Regions of Ghana who reside in the NSEZ also known as the SADA Zone to produce 70, 800 (8 weeks old) guinea keets.

Each of these service providers has agreed to produce a certain number of guinea keets for the project under individual agreements signed with the joint venture company, SADA-Asongtaba Guinea Fowl Production and Marketing Company Limited; established to oversee the project implementation.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SADA-Asongtaba Guinea Fowl Production and Marketing Company Limited Henry Kangah, told Savannahnews after a visit to some service providers in the NSEZ, that he was optimistic that by the end of the year, the project would have had enough birds ready for sale in the Ghanaian market.

According to him, farmers in the Upper East and Upper West Regions in particular, were doing very well and the company was therefore hopeful that all things being equal, the people of Ghana would definitely not be disappointed so far as the promise to flood Ghanaian markets with guinea fowls and guinea fowl products remains binding.    

CEO, SADA-Asongtaba GFPMCL

However, some service providers Savannahnews spoke to also complained that a lot of the eggs procured to produce guinea keets had their fertility levels somehow compromised due to bad weather and many of them failed to hatch when they were send to the hatchery.

They also cited outbreak of some fowl diseases that killed several hundreds of guinea keets that were hatched, thus compelling many of them to start all over again.

Moreover, some of the service providers also attributed their inability to meet the four-month deadline given to each of them by the company to the late release of funds to start work. 

Abdul-Aziz Ibn Shiraz, a service provider in Kumbungu who has been asked to produce 6000 guinea keets admitted that, there were really challenges regarding the successful execution of contractual agreements the company signed with all service providers, but said they (service providers) were convinced that the future was brighter if they took the project seriously and own it.

These concerns expressed by the service providers including the lack of eggs around this time of the year, Mr. Kangah said, are genuine and gave the assurance that, they would be addressed when they meet with the service providers later on. 

That notwithstanding, Mr. Kangah said the contractual agreements signed with the service providers are still in force but said for now, they would be asked to produce the guinea keets per the amounts of money (half of total amount) already paid to them by the company. 

The CEO of the SADA-Asongtaba Guinea Fowl Production and Marketing Company Limited therefore, encouraged all the service providers to adhere to best farming practices regarding rearing of guinea keets/fowls citing provision of clean environment, clean water and feed, periodic vaccination of keets, a warm brooder house among others in order to avoid high mortality rates.

Meanwhile the overall objective of the SADA-Asongtaba Guinea Fowl Project is to train and establish 1,500 beneficiaries out of the 5.2 million projected population of the three regions of the North as well as the northern parts of Brong Ahafo and Volta Regions. Essentially, the broad objective of the guinea fowl out grower’s project is to organize and empower the youth of the SADA Zone to adopt modern methods for increased guinea fowl production as a strategy for sustainable socio-economic development. 

The project seeks to develop skills and interest of 1,500 unemployed youth in all stages of guinea fowl production and marketing value chain through quality and practical training by the end of 2015. It seeks to implement a comprehensive ‘Production Village Out grower’ concept that will provide available and productive jobs for 1,500 beneficiaries in the SADA Zone.

It also seeks to produce approximately 3million birds annually (that is annual output of 2,000 birds per beneficiary) for both local and international markets. Additionally, the project will assist these beneficiaries to deliver quality products not only for the local market but the global market place, hence, ensuring Ghana becomes a leading exporter of guinea fowl and guinea fowl products. 

The project will further ensure that guinea fowl meat and products substitute imported poultry products which in most cases pose a negative nutritional value to the Ghanaian populates.

Construction Of SADA-Asongtaba Guinea Fowl Farms Near Completion

CEO, SADA-Asongtaba GFPMCL

Five ultramodern nucleus farms currently under construction at different locations as part of the implementation of the SADA-Asongtaba Guinea Fowl Project in the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone (NSEZ) are nearing completion.  

The farms are being built in each of the five beneficiary Regions that fall under the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority’s project zone. They are Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions as well as the Northern parts of BrongAhafo and Volta Regions which have similar climatic conditions.

 

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the SADA-Asongtaba Guinea Fowl Production and Marketing Company Limited, Henry Kangah in an interview with Savaanahnews, said the construction of each of the nucleus farms would cost between GH¢800,000.00 and GH¢1.5million.

He explained that, each nucleus farm would be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and machinery that would make the farms, production centres of wholesale poultry feed, poultry feathers and droppings for manure, production of layers and brooders as well as a hatchery.

Each farm would have the capacity to produce 4000 birds while serving as place for tourism for people who have never seen large scale guinea fowl production, he added.

Mr. Kangah however noted that, construction work which was originally scheduled to be completed by the end of August has been delayed due to some technical and unforeseen difficulties including frequent rains around the period of the year. “We’re now looking at the end of October by which time we expect construction and set-up of farms to have been completed”, he projected.

The overall objective of the SADA-Asongtaba Guinea Fowl Project is to promote guinea fowl, considered delicacy among many Ghanaians on commercial basis while generating jobs for 1,500 youth.

The three northern regions alone is said to have a population of 5.2 million and the successful execution of the project is also expected to improve level of poverty and enhance sustainable environmental practices in the beneficiary regions.

The targeted 1,500 unemployed youth are hoping to be skilled in all stages of guinea fowl production, marketing and supply chain values using state-of-the art facilities through practical training by early 2016.

A total of approximately 3million birds annually (that is annual output of 2,000 birds per beneficiary) are expected to be produced by the project for both local and international markets to enable Ghana become a leading exporter of guinea fowl and guinea fowl products.

ZEFP Trains 125 Anti-Wildfire Fighters In West Mamprusi

Recruits at Training 

In less than two months from now, the harmattan or dry season in the Savannah Regions of Ghana will begin, and the anxiety that often greets this period of the year as a result of wildfires caused by either humans or nature is highly anticipated.

During the period of November to February every year, all farmlands, bushes and even forest areas that loose moisture in their natural environment due to the end of the rainy season, becomes more vulnerable to wildfires mostly caused by farmers, herdsmen, group hunters and charcoal producers.

In the Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions, it is undeniably a fact, that the biggest cause of environmental degradation is uncontrolled or indiscriminate bush-burning by the people during the dry season.

Besides, the practice coupled with indiscriminate tree felling is further exacerbating climate change effects in the area as desertification, crop failure, drought, rising temperatures, flood, among others are beginning to manifest in recent years.

Against this background, the Zasilari Ecological Farms Project (ZEFP), a local non-governmental organisation in the West Mamprusi District of the Northern Region, has formed and trained anti-wildfire fighters’ in five communities to help fight bush fires in those areas because of their vulnerability to climate change effects.

The training of the anti-wildfire fighters which is part of the implementation of a CIDA and Canadian Hunger Foundation funded climate change project implemented by ZEFP in collaboration with the Association of Church-Based Development NGOs (ACDEP) is dubbed “Expanding Climate Change Resilience in Northern Ghana (ECCRING).

Speaking to The Daily Dispatch in an exclusive interview, the Project Coordinator Issifu Sulemana Jobila, said the five communities, which included Zangum, Sayoo, Nayoku, Guakudow, and Guabuliga each submitted a list of 25 volunteers of diverse farming background to be trained in basic fire prevention and fire fighting skills.

Recruits passed out

Using a set of criteria involving physical strength, age, activeness, ability and commitment, all recruits according to Mr. Jobila were taken through basic military drills and tutorials by personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service in the West Mamprusi District.

He also emphasised that, the training would support and strengthen farmers’ capacities to manage and prevent all manner of wildfires considered inimical and destructive to food production particularly in the West Mamprusi District.

According to him, each of the anti-wildfire fighters was given a pair of wellington boots, one cutlass, a pair of protective hand gloves and protective clothing by the end of the training.

The Project Coordinator further mentioned that, over 2,500 people in all the five communities were equally sensitized as part of a communitywide sentisation programme on wild and domestic fire prevention. 

Meanwhile, the ECCRING project is expected to support women and other vulnerable farmers in Northern Ghana to enable them to adapt to increasingly erratic rainfall and rising temperatures. The project seeks to build on earlier successes in the area by expanding into 18 new rural communities to increase crop harvests and augment incomes amongst families.

The 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 effects and manage natural disasters. New farming methods and technologies would also be introduced to increase the use of drought-resistant crops and improve livestock production methods.

So far, 1,000 individual smallholder farmers; 200 people from each of the five communities have been supported with 2,080 climate change resilient goats to rear. Also, 250 acres of forest plantations have been established in the communities apart from the sensitisation of over 2,500 people on how to fight wild and domestic fires.

10,000 vulnerable rural women and men in the 18 communities including the aforementioned would receive direct support, and the project is expected to benefit approximately 50,000 people in total whereas household food security and income are both expected to increase by 35% over the 15 month period of the project implementation.