Rainforest Alliance holds business forum for LEAN beneficiaries in Bibiani

SOME residents within the Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai Municipality in the Western North Region have benefitted from a day’s business exhibition fair for some of the beneficiaries under the Landscapes and Environment Agility Across the Nation (LEAN) programme.

The LEAN programme is a four-year funded project by the European Union under its Global Climate Change Alliance Plus (GGCA+) Initiative which is aimed at conserving biodiversity, building climate resilience and reducing emissions from the land-use changes in the Savannah, high forest and transition zones of Ghana.

Under the project, more than 400,000 seedlings have been distributed while over 200 farmers have been trained in alternative livelihoods and supported with start kits to set up small businesses in forest-friendly enterprises.

In all, more than 6000 individual farmers were trained in climate-smart agriculture to improve their productivity and enhance resilience to climate-related risks.

As part of the project, farmers and people who depend on the forest for their livelihoods were taught alternative livelihood activities such as snail and pig rearing, fish farming and beekeeping for honey production.

Exhibition

The exhibition was put together by an international not-for-profit organisation, Rainforest Alliance (RA), which focuses its advocacy more on biodiversity conservation.  

Hundred and twenty medium and small-scale enterprises (MSMEs) took part in the exhibition which was meant to create a platform for the medium and small-scale enterprises within the region where they showcased their products, networked and also discussed the impact of LEAN.

Rationale

The Country Director of RA, Nicholas Jengre, said the objective of the forum was to bring together industry leaders, regulatory bodies, market and decision-makers to explore opportunities for MSMEs and smallholder farmers, particularly women and youth, to dialogue and network for business opportunities.

He explained that the LEAN project was to ensure that those who lived around the forest areas did not degrade the forests through their activities.

The LEAN Project Manager, Matilda Agyapong, said the project was aimed at minimising the impact of human activities on the forest to ensure the sustainability of the new businesses.