Fian, UWR, Nov. 04, GNA - Mr Mahmud Khalid, Upper West Regional Minister, has stated that food production in the region has been declining over the years due to poor soil management. He said about 25,000 hectares of land had always been cultivated annually but food crop yield remained below the required target by 16.98 percent.

The projected growth rate of 3.41 percent for the crop sub-sector for the region has not been achieved for the past few years. Mr. Khalid was speaking at the inauguration of a 30-member Community Environmental Management Committee to help implement the Ghana Environmental Management Project (GEMP) at Fian in the Nadowli District. He said a sustainable agriculture production depended primarily on productive soils, however, the land resources, particularly the soil, had been degraded as a result of the interaction of natural and anthropogenic factors.

"One does not need to have a critical look to realize that our demands on the environment are exploitative. Issues like annual ritual bushfires, indiscriminate tree felling, sand winning and reckless use of natural resources are enough indicators of alarm," he stated. Mr Khalid said for the past four decades, the Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions had lost 40 percent of their tree cover and out of the total of 18.476 Kilometre squad of land mass of the Upper West Region, less than six percent was under permanent forest reserve.

"Furthermore, eight to 10 droughts had occurred in the last two and half decades. This is the true picture confronting us as a people and we must collectively have to do something about it," he said. Mr Khalid said the 7.250 million Canadian Government support project would be implemented in the three northern regions for five years, which would strengthen rural communities and institutions to enable them to reverse land degradation and desertification trends in the north. He said the project would also adopt sustainable water and land management systems that would improve food security and reduce poverty. Mr Khalid called for the active involvement of beneficiary community members in the implementation process, noting: "Environmental issues are key to our socio-economic development".

He reminded the people that if they failed to sustain the primary economic base of agriculture, the chances were that most of the population would move to other parts of the country and the communities would cease to exist.

Mr Abu K. Kasangbata, District Chief Executive of Nadowli, said the district had identified some lands to facilitate the implementation of the GEMP and would mobilise people in the communities to ensure its success. He encouraged the people to plant more trees and avoid the practice of bush burning and wanton destruction of the environment.

Mr Asher Nkegbe, Acting Upper West Regional Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said the GEMP would be implemented in 30 communities in the region to support the execution of the National Action Programme to Combat Desertification and Drought to enhance food security. He said the EPA would appreciate the wealth of knowledge of the local people who would implement the GEMP and urged them to work as a team to ensure the success of the project. 04 Nov. 09