The Rainforest Alliance a non-governmental organization under the Landscapes and Environmental Agility across the Nation (LEAN) Project has begun another alternative livelihood training for Cocoa farmers who are interested and committed to establish additional income generating businesses in the Western North Region, of Ghana.

The training was created to build the technical and managerial skills of the rural cocoa farmers to be able to establish, sustain and manage their additional income generating enterprises so as to prevent the rural cocoa farmers and forest communities from exerting pressure on the forest and also engaging in legal environmental activities. The training started on 16th May and is expected to end on 24th June, 2023.

Rainforest Alliance, together with 3 partners - Tropenbos Ghana, EcoCare Ghana and World Vision Ghana with funds from the European Union (EU) are implementing the Landscapes and Environmental Agility across the Nation - LEAN project which sets to address some major barriers in selected landscapes across the savannah, high forest and transitional ecological zones of Ghana.

The four-year project ending in 2024 aims to directly support national efforts to conserve biodiversity, improve the livelihoods of small-scale farmers, build climate resilience, and reduce emissions from land-use changes across the various zones.

Rainforest Alliance on their part decided to train farmers on alternative livelihoods like Pig farming, Bee keeping, Cabbage farming, Snail farming and others as part of their activities on the LEAN project in the high forest ecological zone of Ghana.