In the crisp air of November 2023, the Ghanaian landscape stirred with quiet anticipation. Under the banner of the Nature-Based Solutions project, a dedicated team from Farm Radio International (FRI) set out on a journey across the Volta, Central, Upper West, Upper East, Northern and Bono East regions. Their mission was clear: to delve deep into the hearts of these communities, to listen, to learn and to gather invaluable insights through community assessments, diaries, household surveys, focus group discussions and case studies.
These Community-Based Research Methods sought to capture the voices and opinions of the people on climate change adaptation practices. By leveraging Nature-based Solutions, Farm Radio and its partners aimed to address the pressing challenges faced by these rural areas. Each interaction, each survey completed, peeled back layers of community life, revealing issues that often went unnoticed. Through this relentless engagement, the team aimed to forge a path toward solutions that resonated with the true needs of the people.
During the team’s visit to Mansra, a community in the Kintampo North District of the Bono East Region, the team met with Mohammed Perpul, a 37 year-old farmer who has been in the farming business for the past 25 years and has been cultivating cashews for approximately 15 years.
Despite the availability of many trees, Mohammed chose to plant cashews for their role in reducing climate change impacts and their long-term economic benefits.
Also, he chose cashew cultivation because it’s less labour-intensive. According to him, women and the youth alike play significant roles in harvesting and transporting the cashews. He further noted that the lands used for farming in their communities are primarily family inheritances passed down through generations.
Mohammed is an active listener of the Nature-based Solutions initiative radio program on Adars FM. He confessed his love for the program and how impactful it had been to him. He also suggested the use of an information delivery van for timely update delivery to some neighbouring communities that do not have radio access. Below is a quote from him about the Nature-based Solutions radio program.
“The timely weather reports and agricultural knowledge provided by program specialists are invaluable resources that I truly value.”
The community visit was to help the team understand where residents or community members stand on current issues, how satisfied they are with the radio programs and how effective the project is in meeting community priorities. This allows our team to adjust our project implementation methods to best meet the needs of farmers like Mohammed.
Article from Farm Radio International