Regional News of Wednesday, 9 January 2008

Source: GNA

Australian High Commission sponsors poverty alleviation project

Ahweabeng (E/R), Jan. 9, GNA - A one-week training workshop for grasscuter and bee-keeping projects for farmers in Ahweabeng near Old Akim Tafo opened at Ahweabeng on Tuesday. The Australian High Commission in Ghana is funding the 9, 215 Gh cedi project that was initiated by the Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North, Mr J. B. Danquah-Adu. The workshop was aimed at encouraging grasscuter rearing and bee keeping as a way of alleviating poverty among farmers in the Ahweabeng area.

The East Akim District Co-coordinator of the National Disaster Management organization (NADMO), Mr Mathiew Asare, implementers of the project, said the project would support the participating farmers to acquire structures and equipment for it. He said the participating farmers would be expected to extend the skills that they would acquire in the implementation of the project to other farmers and support them to acquire some of the equipment and structures for the project.

Mr Asare said initially, 12 farmers were participating in the grasscuter project with 20 others participating in the bee keeping project. He explained the project was expected to help raise the incomes of the participating farmers and also help in raising the standard of living of the farmers in the area in general.