EU/LEAN Project supports traditional herbalists in Western North with tree seedlings

The European Union (EU) through the Landscape and Environmental Agility Across the Nation (LEAN) project have supported Members of Traditional Herbalists Association at Nsawora/Adwumafua and surrounding communities in the Western North Region with tree seedlings to help restore degraded areas.The move is also to help herbal practitioners in the area to easily source for raw materials.According to the herbalists sourcing for raw material in the area has become a major challenge to them due to the negative activities of illegal chainsaw operations in the area.Mr Emmanuel Bawuah Antwi, Senior Associate Rainforest Alliance, the organization implementing the restoration project in the area, explained that the key objective of the project was to directly support national efforts to conserve biodiversity, improve the livelihoods of small-scale farmers, build climate resilience and reduce emissions from land use changes across Ghana's Savannah, high forest and transition zones.He further explained that the ge sture would help reduce deforestation and also contribute to the restoration of degraded areas in the Landscape to ensure that all natural resources that were becoming extinct are restored to their natural state.Mr Antwi mentioned stable farmer governance structure, building farmer capacity to practice climate smart Agriculture approaches, raised tree seedlings for farmers to plant in degraded areas to restored back to its original state and providing farmers with additional source of income as the main output to be achieved.He indicated that the LEAN project had liaised with the Traditional Herbalists Association in the area and supported them with 5,000 seedlings of 12 different spices of native trees to enable them get raw materials easily for their production.Mr Antwi continued that the restoration projection would this year support the Bibiani district with 30,000 tree seedlings and 60,000 to the Wiawso district to enhance tree planting in degraded areas of the forest reserves and other degraded ar eas.He also announced that over 10,000 fruit seedlings would be distributed to farmers to plant on their farm lands to contribute to the restoration agenda.Mr Dzakpata Julius, Zone B organizer for the Traditional herbalists of Ghana, lauded the EU/LEAN initiative, which he noted would help improve upon Climate change.According to him, the move would also help practitioners get raw materials easily which would go a long way to improve upon their work.He urged herbal practitioners to always support tree planting initiatives in order to help save the environment and called on them to properly take care of trees planted for future generations to benefitMr Emmanuel Adu Amankrah, assembly member for Nsawora Adwumafua electoral area, lauded rainforest Alliance and the European Union for the project and their continued supply of tree seedlings to farmers for the past three years.He entreated the residents, especially farmers to always plant trees.Source: Ghana News Agency