The items included a number of tricycle motors, motorbikes, bicycles, computers and accessories among others are to help the CREMA conserve and protect the biodiversity in the area.

The Sanyiga, Kassena Gavara Kara CREMA is formed to help protect and preserve the larger corridor that links the Nazinga Game Reserve in Burkina Faso to the National Mole Park in Ghana, which holds rich biodiversity that forms the basis of the socio-cultural and economic prospects of these local communities.

Speaking at the ceremony at Nakong at the weekend, the Deputy Chief of Party at the AgNRM Project, Mr Patrick Adjewodah, mentioned that the USAID through AgNRM in collaboration with the government was working hard to reduce poverty in the communities by empowering the community members to create economic opportunities from Natural and Non-traditional agriculture resources.

He explained that to be able to achieve that result, the USAID and the government through the AgNRM’s “In-Kind Grant Initiative” is supporting local communities to conserve and use their natural resources in a sustainable manner.

He stressed that the initiative would equip local communities with safety and proactive equipment to responsibly manage the local resources, and indicated that so far the initiative was supporting eight CREMAs representing about 200 local communities located in the Black Volta basin, the Western Wildlife and Eastern Wildlife Corridors.

Whilst the Black Volta shares border between Northern and Brong-Ahafo Regions and also form part of the border between Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso, the Western and Eastern Wildlife Corridors are made of communities lying within the Kassena-Nankana West and Sesala East Districts.

The Eastern Corridor links southern Ghana to the north and other neighboring countries including Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali and runs through the Volta Region. 

Since 2016, the project, which is being implemented by partners including Winrock International, TechnoServe, Nature Conservation Research Centre and the Centre for Conflict Transformation and Peace Studies had trained about 500 individuals and groups to learn and adopt new agriculture techniques such as processing Moringa seeds and leaves into cosmetics, oil and food. “Community members, primarily women, are now processing and selling Moringa products for additional income”, the Deputy of Party indicated.

He stated that about 1,250 men and women have benefited from trainings to improve quality of sheanut processing to meet the International market standards under the project, which is expected to end in 2021.

Mr Mark Newton, the Energy Advisor at the USAID/Ghana, stated that the project had also trained communities to use energy efficient and environmentally friendly cook stoves for processing sheanut into butter, thereby reducing costs and pressure on felling trees for charcoal production.

The Paramount Chief of the Nakong Traditional Area, Pe Joseph Banape Afagachie, lauded the efforts of Managers of the project and stated that the gesture would help address the environmental problems confronting the communities.