The primary focus of this initiative was to build the resilience capacities of the indigenous farmers in Dorbor traditional areas in sustainable land management practices by introducing them to soil fertility improvement techniques, integrated pest management in crop production, the processing of bio-chemicals and compost to minimize the use of POP chemicals in crop cultivation and management of solid waste. It also aimed at enhancing the adaptability and resilience of the local farmers to climate change by through climate smart agricultural practices, ecological farming systems and sustainable livelihood enterprise development.
Dorbor, is one of the major farming communities within the Banda district with a total population of 5,250 (estimated in 2018). The landscape is mostly depleted woodland of shea trees infested with striga hermonthica (an endemic parasitic weed that causes severe yield losses of cereals). The people at Dorbor community are predominantly subsistent farmers primarily involved in the cultivation of cereals and cash crops (cashew) for domestic consumption and partially for export.
The project created awareness on climate effects, biodiversity conservation and sustainable land management. It developed the capacities of 185 indigenous farmers in sustainable land management, community waste management and composting of the degradable matter into organic fertilizer. It also promoted land use efficiency and productivity improvement through the adoption of proven best farming methods in improved land and water management interventions and sustainable production and processing capacities to advance the value chains of cashew and soya beans (production, processing and marketing).
The promotion of compost in place of chemical fertilise on degraded lands, agroforestry and mixed farms were the main hallmarks of the project. Five sustainable land management technologies were introduced including a) participatory sustainable land use planning for integrated land and water management; b) alley cropping and agroforestry: c) ploughing along the contours using the ?A?-frame as the levelling technology to retain soil moisture, stone-bunds to serve the dual purpose of improving land productivity and helping prevent soil erosion; d) organic farming through planting of nitrogen fixing plants, use of green manure, and use of farm yard manure, e) water conservation and soil fertility improvement using integrated small ruminant rearing and waste composting and application of POPs alternatives as natural pesticides to control pests.
Working through the local farmers, the project has established 65 ha of cashew plantations (small holdings of improved variety), 15 ha of soya beans, 15 ha of woodlot, a mixture of Cassia Siamea and Teak (Tectona grandis). The soya beans serves as trap crop against striga hermonthica by producing chemicals that stimulated the striga seed to germinate but die off within few days because it cannot attach its root system to the soya beans. The project in addition supported 140 households to adopt improved clean cook woodstoves for domestic and industrial purposes. 35 households have been engaged in livelihood enterprise development (bee-keeping, piggery, trading in soya beans and cashew seeds, and small ruminant rearing). 165 farm families have been introduced to agroforestry, compost preparation and multi-cropping for increased yield. 375 individual community members are involved in village saving and credit scheme which has now metamorphose into Dorbor Cooperative Union with an operating capital of US$21,215.
Rationale behind the project
The Dorbor traditional area made up of five small communities was identified as the epic centre of land degradation within the Banda portion of the Black Volta socio-economic landscape. The landscape experiences extreme forms of temperatures during the dry season and flooding during the wet season. The undulating nature of the landscape facilitated severe erosion and this has affected land productivity, thereby compromising food security in the area. The erratic rainfall pattern, coupled with poor soil fertility, contributed to the emergence of striga hermonthica weeds and incessant wildfires impoverishing the soils further. It was estimated that annually, the farmers within the landscape used up to 62,000 kg of chemical fertilizer in crop production, and 26,700 litres of chemicals in plant protection and harvesting. Ironically, the total solid waste generated within the area from households, construction, institutional and commercial sources was estimated at 5,400 kg. This was seen as a great opportunity for reversing the negative trends in soil fertility.
Inadequate indigenous capacities in proven agronomic technologies, and especially in sustainable organic/integrated farming alternatives were identified as the underlying causes of the continuous land degradation and the declining yields in crops within the landscape. Soils, water bodies, fish and crop products produced within the landscape were becoming more and more acidic as a result of inappropriate and unsustainable use of agro-inputs including fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides and herbicides.
The project was therefore designed to provide solutions to:
? declining yields and poor quality of food crops using sustainable agroforestry and alley cropping technologies and woodlot establishment on degraded lands;
? increasing use of chemical fertilizer and pesticides by building and sustaining the capacities of local farmers in ecological farming, zero tillage, organic compost preparation to increase the agricultural productivity and income of farmers;
? increasing poverty by supporting the local farmers to invest in sustainable alternative livelihood enterprises development as compensation for the provision of ecosystem goods and services and coping strategies to climate change.

Key players in implementation

Apart from the Grantee, other key players under the project were:

a) Dorbor Ecological Farmer Association. This association was formed under the project to mobilize the local farmers and create awareness of the effects of land degradation and its linkage to the temperature increase and flooding. They held open and tree-bottom discussions, organized peer-review and visits to best practice areas to gain the support of the local people. They registered interested farmers, introduced them to the planned field activities and monitored the field activities of beneficiary farmers. Lead farmers who were trained provided extension services to other farmers. The association supervised the timely acquisition of farm inputs, training and technological extension.
b) The Banda District Assembly through the Department of Social Welfare facilitated the community entry and provided the needed political will for the project take-off. They provided support for the wildfire management policy actions and provided the legal backing for the commencement of the livelihood enterprise.
c) The Nafana Traditional Authorities were the custodians of the project. They donated land for the field demonstration, mobilized the indigenous people and supported them to participate in the project.
d) The Ministry of Food and Agriculture led the field training and provided the extension services. They tested the chemical composition of the compost, supervised the field trails and supported broader adoption to other [parts of the traditional areas.
KEY ACTIVITIES AND INNOVATIONS
a. Public Awareness and Group Formation. The project created public awareness meetings under trees, in the churches and mosques using simple animation materials to draw public awareness on the state of the environment. Using participatory mapping techniques, the local people assessed the current landuse situations of the village and drew future landuse plan. The awareness creation and mobilization fostered: a). the selection of farm households who were willing to engage in the project; b) a sense of ownership about the project among local communities; c) formulation of participatory planning, monitoring, and evaluation process d) the mobilization of local funds through village savings
b. Establishment of Farmer Field School. With the support of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture Farmer Field Schools (FFS) methods in Integrated Pest and Disease Management strategies was established. The school offered training to 185 household farmers in ecological and climate smart farming technologies. The fundamental activities were the preparation of crop fields downstream using A-frame levelling; the conversion of household waste into organic manure; and the rearing of poultry and small ruminants as inputs to the preparation of organic manure. The farmers were trained to produces pesticides from the liquefied bird droppings mixed with Neem extracts to spray the fields instead of pesticides. The introduction of the organic farming lead to the reduction of the release of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in the environment.
The Farmer Field School built the capacities of registered trainees in the following areas:
o Water saving cultivation method including: a) ridge making; b) solid ridge making, c) stone bonding and d) application of green mulch.
o Application of basal fertilizer. Application of organic matters, mainly compost and cow dung, as basal fertilizer was the major technique to improve on soil fertility and moisture. This technique was mainly for upland crops and vegetable production
o Preparation and application of liquid and granular organic fertilizer.
o Nursery management for preparation of healthy seedlings including grafting of cashew and mangoes.
o crop propagation techniques for production of planting materials
o crop rotation and mix planting to prevent crops from such damages.
o quality seed multiplication and storage.
Key innovations

i. Participatory land use planning has been successfully introduced the local communities in Dorbor to protect and wisely use woodland resources for their benefits.

Figure 2: Community Meetings and awareness creation

Figure 3: Participatory Community landuse plan
ii. The project introduced high yielding and quick maturing crop varieties in integrated and mixed cropping systems. The capacities of local farmers were trained in farm management, use of ?A? frame to determine contours for stone bonding, waste separation at household level and composting of waste into manure, how to conduct survey of pests and diseases and training in bio-pesticide preparation using Neem extracts.

Figure 4: Preparation of liquid fertilizer Household compost pit

Maintaining Household compost pit

iii. Categorization of pesticides, and organic alternatives using Farmer Field School (FFS), approaches establish with organic farming methods and land and water management and conservation strategies.
iv. Water saving conservation methods to preserve soil moisture through introduction of ridge making and green mulching. The techniques are also effective in protection of soils from surface soil erosion by rains and winds

v. Application of basal fertilizer techniques to improve on fertility and water holding capacities of soils
vi. Application of liquid fertilizer as folio for easy plant absorption of micro-nutrients like boron (B), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo), chlorine (Cl) and silicon (Si).
vii. Crop rotation and mix planting techniques to minimize crop disease whiles stabilizing the crop production and land productivity.
viii. Development of Forage and Feed Bank Techniques by local framers to enable the local communities to produce animal feed using resources locally available
Impact: Environment, Socio-Economic

i. This initiative has minimized POP chemicals in vegetation cultivation and management of solid waste. The improper use of agrochemicals in vegetable and crop production was minimized. A number of chemicals, which had been banned in developed countries, but were clandestinely being used in the farming areas including Furadan [carbofuran], Topsin [thiothanate methyl], and Dursban [chlorpyrifos] were eliminated. The use of chemical fertilizer NPK and zinc were all reduced to the barest minimum.
ii. Different varieties of fast growing short duration and very good storability of millet, soya beans and cashew were introduced in the project area under the organic farming system. In most cases indigenous trees were grown on the ridges of agroforestry farms.
iii. The farm yield of millet, and soya beans increased from 0.2-0.8 tons to 1.2-2.5 tons yielding a net return of US$2,400 per planting season. In addition, the project runs a cooperative union with a capital of US$21,215. The project permanently engaged 2 people to operate the cooperative union on full time basis.
iv. Through the project, the District Assembly rehabilitated the road network connecting the villages to the main town and the district capital.

Impacts: Policy and Regulation

a. The project contributed to the need to promote organic agriculture in cereal and vegetable production. The District Agriculture department has adopted conservation agriculture as the way forward crop production in the district. It has introduced the concept of integrated farming within the rural communities.
b. The use of chemical fertilizer in the cereal and vegetable production is now being promoted. Most of the farmers now produce and use organic fertilizer.
c. Local policy has been made to use local seeds for planting and not GMOs

Gender, youth, indigenous people

The Youth were mostly involved in the project. The women constitute 66% of the beneficiaries and are involved in the production, processing storage and marketing of the final products.

Replication and broader adoption

The project has been replicated in other landscapes within the district. For example the village saving has spread to over 12 communities with membership getting closer to 1,000. The project model is being replicated by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

Lessons learned
? Innovative technology developed and applied. These included water conservation and soil fertility improvement technologies and organic farming through use of farm yard manure, compost making (bin, pit and heap techniques) and crop rotation.
? A protocol for sustainable water and land management and integrated vegetable and soya beans cultivated within shea parklands a business has been developed and made available to at least 500 locally trained agriculture extension agents.
? The SGP financed the project and documented the outcome for replication.
? Farmers are willing to participate in the seed multiplication activities. Local bye-law has been developed to guide seed storage and vegetative multiplication.
?
QUARTERLY DISBURSEMENT REPORTS

six community land management groups made up of 30 members each have been formed, trained and empowered as community educators in sustainable land management practices. Several aspects of land management are being changed within the project area as a result of an increased capacity of the local farmers to understand the causes of land degradation and the ways to prevent such further damage. Notably was the formulation of participatory landuse plan; formation and training of sustainable land management committees; and increased wildfire management capacity
Several agricultural practices implemented such as composting and alley cropping serve the dual purpose of improving agricultural productivity while helping to retain soil moisture. 160 local farmers were involved in water conservation improvements practices achieved through the construction of stone bunds. The bunds prevent and/or retard water flow down slopes and helps to retain soil moisture much like terraces by stopping water from flowing down hill and allowing water to percolate into the soil. The project has assisted 20 farmer groups to identify contours on individual farms using different leveling materials of spirit level, ?A? frame or water tube. The essence of using different leveling materials is to enable farmers to use available leveling tools in contour identification.

Activities Planned and Implemented

Activity One: CONDUCT COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT WITH LOCAL FARMERS.
Though the consent of the community leaders was sought prior to the submission of the proposal, a need assessment was conducted with the local farmers. Some farmers and major stakeholders were met and a meeting was held. The Executive Director and the Programmes Coordinator led the deliberation. The focus was to discuss the content of the project proposal and also look at the implementation strategies vis-à-vis the possible challenges. It was also agreed that Tuesdays are sacred days set aside in the community and therefore it was appropriate to hold major meetings and workshops on Tuesdays.

Activity Two: CONDUCT COMMUNITY AWARENESS CREATION WORKSHOP.
Series of announcements on the Dorbor information centre and by the gong-gong beater were made to invite the community members to the community workshops. Participants were given general overview on the current news surrounding climate change, ways of finding alternative livelihood among others. Mr. Iddrisu Samson, the resource person, recounted the recent and increased rates of climate change taking into cognizance the effects on Agriculture citing irregular rainfall pattern and prolonged drought period as examples and how they also contribute to the menace. He admonished the community members to adopt sustainable farming practices, stop the incessant felling of trees especially for charcoal production. There was an interaction session whereby participants expressed their personal experiences, asked questions and gave recommendations. The project coordinator also gave a summary of the project and emphasized on the roles each is expected to play in ensuring successful delivery of activities.

Activity Three: LAUNCH THE PROJECT WITH THE COMMUNITY MEMBERS AND STAKEHOLDERS
The project was officially launched on the 29th of November, 2016 at Dorbor. In attendance were representatives from the Banda District Assembly, the District Director of the Agriculture directorate, the Dorbor chief and elders, the Assembly member, religious leaders, the media and farmers.
After the opening formalities, the Executive Director of Save Our Environment Foundation highlighted on the overall project objectives, implementation strategies and expected outcomes. He also took the opportunity to introduce and thank the granting agency UNDP/GEF/SGP. The Executive Director was very grateful for the unflinching support UNDP/GEF/SGP has been providing to protect and safeguard the environment through its numerous projects.
The project was officially launched by Mr. Felix Donkor, a representative of the Banda District Chief Executive and the district officer of the Department of Social Development. He was very grateful to SEF and UNDP/GEF/SGP for choosing to work in the district. He heartened the participants to attach much seriousness to the project as it will transform their lives. He was very optimistic of successful project implementation and assured all and sundry of the support of the District Assembly.
A project management committee was formed and launched. The Eleven (11) member committee was chaired by the District Agric Director and members being some farmers, Ghana National Fire Service, chiefs, SEF and District Assembly.
The Project Management Team was to see to it that the expected project activities are done on time with the requisite resources.
The Omanhene gave the closing remarks by thanking Save our Environment Foundation and UNDP/GEF/SGP for bringing the project into his community and pleaded with his citizens to avail themselves for successful execution of project.


Activity Four: TRAIN FARMERS ON SIMPLE BOOKKEEPING
The beneficiary members were organized for one day training workshop on simple bookkeeping.
The aim was to help farmers assess the profit level or otherwise of their farming activities. The resource persons did indicate that proper bookkeeping involves maintaining proper daily records. This enables one to monitor the progress of the farm and subsequently make the farming enterprise organized and profitable. He advised the farmers to place monetary values on family labor they employ on the farm; and also cost the land if it was not hired or bought. These farmers testified that they have not done before. They were taken through the basic format and steps to use in tracking the progress of their farms. This they were made aware when properly done will enable them to provide information one needs to make decisions and even obtain loans from financial institutions.
Activity Five: SUPPORT THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SMALL SCALE VILLAGE ENTERPRISE
Since there is no financial/saving institution in the community, the farmers lacked saving habits. An awareness creation workshop was held to sensitize them on the need to save money. People who were interested to save their money in the saving component of the project were registered. They were further trained in the management of the scheme. The registered members were grouped into six with each group having 15-25 people. The grouping was done voluntarily as members themselves formed their own groups under the guidance of SEF and facilitators. Each of the members was given a registration form to register and membership card to keep records of money to be paid. Also, each of the six groups was given a metal box with three padlocks on it. The box was kept by one member in the group whiles the keys to the three padlocks were kept by three different members. A secretary was provided with a note book to record the contributions of the members in and also in the membership book (Susu Card). A meeting day and time has been scheduled by each group once a week. Member contributions are paid and recorded on such days. The chairman for each group chairs the meetings. The Agric Extension Agent and project coordinators go round to educate them on simple and improved farming practices such as multiple cropping techniques, row planting, mulching and so forth. Also, knowledge/experience sharing is also done.


Activity Six: MONITORING AND EVALUATION.
This is crucial to achieve the expected objectives. The monitoring and evaluation officer of SEF put in place measures to assess the progress of the implementation. This included random visitation to meetings, checking of reports on activities carried out among others .The PMT also brought their expertise in the purchase of materials and carrying out of activities. Also, the UNDP/GEF/SGP National Coordinator together with his team paid a working visit to the project community. In his submission he encouraged the participants to come together and form groups to enable them get support from donor agencies. He also encouraged them to find alternative forms of livelihoods and dedicate themselves throughout the implementation stages.
He was much particular about the increasing effects of climate change and entreated all farmers to be circumspect in their farming activities so as to safeguard the environment.


Activity Eight: ORGANIZE TRAINING FOR FARMERS ON INTENSIVE WILDFIRE PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT
The district Fire Safety Officer Mr. Abubakari Osman facilitated these workshops. He indicated that the major types of fires are industrial, domestic and wild fires. He touched a little on the first two types indicated above but hammered much on the wildfires since that type has been a major problem in the district for a very long time. The types of wildfires namely; bush fires; surface fires, sub surface fires and crown fires were explained. The causes of all the types are natural and human/man-made causes. The human causes include charcoal burning, game, palm wine tapping, uncontrolled burning of farmlands, cigarette smoking, etc. The natural causes are basically lightening and refraction of radiant energy.
The effects of bush fires on vegetation, animals and hydrology lead to famine, habitat loss/extinction of species, poverty, litigation and even loss of lives and property.
Prevention: As part of mitigation measures to help prevent bush fires, participants were asked to avoid the following.
a. Burning charcoal in the bush during dry seasons.
b. smoking in the bush
c. cooking in the bush especially dry season
d. burning farmlands without approval from Fire Service
e. hunting for game

In summary the project enhanced community resilience to climate change to reduce Green House Gas (GHG) emissions through Climate Smart Agricultural (CSA) practices and ecological farming. The major success of this project was the restoration of degraded landscapes, integration of soil fertility restoration technologies in the traditional farming system and the adoption of village savings operating system with over 250 beneficiaries. The project built the resilience capacities of the 120 indigenous farmers in sustainable land management practices, soil fertility improvement techniques, integrated pest management in crop production, the processing of bio-chemicals and compost to minimize the use of persistent organic pollutant chemicals in crop cultivation and management of solid waste. It also enhanced the adaptability and resilience of the local farmers to climate change through climate smart agricultural practices, ecological farming systems and sustainable livelihood enterprise development.
The agro-ecological farming was practiced by 120 beneficiary farmers who have combined farming with animal rearing including apiary, piggery, small ruminant, and poultry utilizing the animal droppings to prepare compost.