COMMUNITY TREE NURSERIES
SAVANNAH ENCROACHMENT AND DESERTIFICATION
In the North of the country, the drier, savannah region is creeping down into the greener forested areas. This is a result of logging, bush fires and the endemic drying out of the land due to inappropriate agricultural practices such as monoculture and over-plowing.
Further north again, in the older savannah areas, the land suffering even more. Increasingly irregular and unpredictable rainfall can cause crops to fail meaning that people are at constant risk of famine. Overgrazing from livestock and high demand for firewood means that tree cover is rapidly falling. These things combined are quickly creating a barren landscape where the soil cannot hold water or nutrients and can no longer be farmed successfully using modern monoculture techniques and chemicals.
What is GPI doing to combat this?
Community tree nurseries are a key part of our work and until now we have established nursery projects in over 2000 communities throughout Ghana.
Part of this work is facilitated through us teaching people how to start tree nurseries in their own communities and we support groups with the materials to do this.
We share permaculture techniques and beneficial planting combinations that have a regenerative effect on their land, improving both soil fertility and water retention.
We produce large quantities of trees here at our demonstration site including fruit trees, cocoa, cashew, trees for timber, medicinal and indigenous trees as well as nitrogen fixers that improve the soil and nourish degraded land.