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Food Minister Trevor Sargent is pictured on his recent visit to Ethiopia

Goat scheme in Ghana

Twenty women in Duusi village in Northern Ghana are piloting a goat breeding programme which will make a significant contribution to the economic prospects of small-holding farmers in the locality over the coming years.

The participants each received three goats on a revolving fund basis, and are being supported and advised in their efforts by local Ministry of Agriculture staff. In order to quality to take part in the venture, the women were each required to construct a goat house, develop a supplementary feed supply for their animals, and maintain medical records on their livestock.

All of the participants were trained in goat husbandary and disease prevention by their local partner TRAX Ghana, which last year provided practical support to more than 7,000 households.

Self Help Africa has been supporting the development of livestock opportunities in Eastern Shewa, Ethiopia, for the past two years

Sunflower seed sale

Self Help Africa has assisted a group of farm families producing sunflowers to access a valuable new market for their produce.

Four farmers associations based in the Gilgil Project area have been supported in negotiations to sell their sunflower seed, under a deal that they have signed with the country's Bidco Oil Refinery company.

Bidco are one of the largest producers and distributors of edible oil and hygiene products, including soap, in East and Central Africa.

Elsewhere in the Gilgil project area a further 116 farmers were supported to begin producing sunflowers, during the second half of 2008.

Soil bunds and Zai

The deteriorating environmental situation at Brossou in Northern Burkina Faso has serious consequences on the life of rural populations already affected by the bad climatic conditions. Self Help Africa began working in the region in mid-2008, and has maintained a partnership with a local Association called ASCDIS, (Association pour la Solidarite et le Developpment Integre dans le Sahel) since then. The group's work seeks to contribute to the restoration of the environment and to improving food security for poor rural farmers in the area.

Environmental campaign

A campaign to tackling the depleted natural environment around Loaga village in Burkina Faso has been aided by the distribution of tools and equipment to help combat soil infertity.
66 local households recently received tools and equipment through Self Help Africa's local PER partner, which as provided with wheelbarrows, shovels and other items needed for the task.

PER staff predict that the effort will enable farming households to increase productivity by between 30 and 50 per cent in the coming year.

Clean water for Nabine

Villages at Nabine in Togo's Savannah region have access to clean and safe drinking water for the first time in generations, as a result of the recent construction by Self Help Africa's local TRAX partner of a village well.

Miribe Souk spoke for the community when she said that the new well was a dream come true. 'Before this well was provided we shared our drinking water source with animals, and it was frequently dirty and contaminated. In the dry season it disappeared altogether, and we needed to go into Kparik village more than six kilometres away for water'.

Beekeepers

More than 100 households in Wend Yam district in Burkina Faso are taking part in a new beekeeping programme that has been initiated with the support of Self Help Africa.

105 families, including 52 women have received training in beekeeping management and other aspects of apiculture, and have also been provided with hives, separators and other equipment needed for honey production.

Colonies have been established and hives populated, as participating householders embark on a programme which should generate a valuable additional source of household income. Bees also have an important role to play in enhancing crop production through pollination, in the area.

Read about Wend Yam beekeepers

Community trainers

Well done to the ten farmers in Duusi area of Ghana who recently graduated as community trainers (CTs) as part of an initiative being supported by Self Help Africa.

The new trainers, who were nominated by their local communities to attend the training course, will now take the lead in the formulation of local community action plans, and will act as motivators, mentors and educators of farmers in their local villages.

The community trainer programme is particularly valuable in ensuring the sustainability of local development initiatives.

Read about local 'extension farmers'

Introduction to Self Help Africa

Above is a short introduction to Self Help Africa and its work.

Fuel stoves contribute to Togo's environmental rehabilitation campaign

A combination of changing climate and poor farming practices has resulted in widespread desertification of traditional savannah lands in Northern Togo.

In an effort to begin combatting this problem Self Help Africa and its local NGO partners have begun an iniutiative that is designed to empower local communities, and support them in measures that are designed to arrest the pace of desertification, and ultimately rehabilitate lands which local communities have farmed for generations.

Villagers are being encouraged to identify trainers from in their midst. The nominated candidates are supported with a range of practical skills, which they in turn seek to pass on to farmers as part of a programme to encourage environmental rehabilitation of the savannah lands.

In the village of Nadiegou, community trainer Sewa Lare (pictured above with brown head-scarf) is seen here assisting a group of Togolese women to construct fuel efficient mud stoves. The promotion of cooking stoves which consume less fuel wood is one of the practical ways that the environmental challenge can be met at community level.