The Trans-Sahara project has officially started with a visit to Bolgatanga, Tabale and the surrounding communities in the northern region of Ghana.
The purpose of the visit was to examine the suitability of selected communities for integrated interventions and to assess existing local efforts on which the project can build up and influence the implementation of the implementation.
During the visit, Dr. Joana Ameyaw, deputy lead of the project and team leader for the reconnaissance mission, the importance of this first step.
“This visit is very important for the project because it opens our eyes for the situation that we have on site. We need an entry point to the community so that the project can continue after completion. We have to familiarize ourselves with the stakeholders and people who are already working on similar projects,” she said.
She also mentioned that “the results will help to conduct detailed planning and design and design of pilot activities that aim to improve agriculture, water consumption and access to energy in the region,” she said.
The project focuses on the development of innovative methods to determine an agricultural forestry trade known as a living laboratory. This property is used as a demonstration site for testing and promoting sustainable practices in land use, water management and renewable energy.
Saaka Sumaila Seidu, the partner and founder of the forum for natural regeneration for natural regeneration, explained why these municipalities were selected for the living laboratory of the project.
“The choice of communities driven on tour was based on several factors, including the type of landscape, to adopt the zeal of the people, Agroforest practices. The three municipalities each have unique landscapes, which they strongly set up for the establishment of the living laboratory, in which sustainable agricultural and agricultural management techniques can be tested and can be scaled,” he said.
He also spoke about the contributions that the project will probably do in the life of the farmers.
“The Trans -Sahara project, which is carried out on this side of the northern region, will strongly influence the life of the people. It will solve the water problems that people have in the communities and ensure that agriculture is no longer seasonal, which is why farmers can plant all year round due to water.
Students of the CK Tendam University of Technology and Applied Science, the University for Development Studies (UDS) and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Knust) will work with the local community to improve the living standard of their members through research and practical interventions.
The Trans-Sahara project is a consortium that from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) led by Dr. Daphne Gondhalkar is led and financed by the European Union as part of the Horizon European Framework Program, which aims at an agrofortry-managing region in the Grean Northern African region through an aqueous ecosystem (WEFE-Basis attacker).
In Ghana, the project is implemented by Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Knust) via the Technology Consultancy Center (TCC) under the leadership of the general director Prof. Francis Davis.
Principal Investigator, Dr. Ing. Alexander Boakye Marful emphasized that the initiative is a strategic reaction to the related ecological, socio-economic and climatic challenges for the arid and semi-arid regions of Africa and emphasizes Knust's strong engagement for the development of the community.
It is expected that the project lasts for three years and has enough time to test, refine and scale the proposed solutions for sustainable agriculture and land management.
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