Subsistence farmers in Ghana are learning how to hold back the decline in the fertility of the smallholdings they cultivate while revitalizing their soils as desertification increasingly threatens their land and livelihoods.
An increase in the population in the West African country has put more pressure on agricultural lands resulting in the clearing of forests and woodlands, a development which is hastening desertification.
The Dorbor community which lives in central Ghana is finding the cultivation of the cereal crops and cashew nuts it traditionally farms increasingly challenging.
The Dorbor people are now being supported by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), with funding provided by the Global Environment Facility, to hold back land degradation by introducing sustainable land management practices, including soil fertility improvement techniques.
As the international community gathers in New Delhi in India to discuss how to combat desertification, read more here about how the Dorbor people are restoring life to Ghana’s lands.
More from the UN Development Programme here, and you can find out more about the Small Grants Programme, here.
