Canada Supports KNUST

IN THE ENHANCEMENT OF AGRO-FORESTRY

Sunyani, December 13, 2007 - The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is providing $3.0 million to help finance a $4.36 million project entitled “Agro-forestry Practices to Enhance Resource-Poor Livelihoods”. The University of Guelph, Canada and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) will jointly implement the project. Brong-Ahafo District Assembly representatives, three communities near Sunyani (Ayakomaso, Dumasua and Fiapre) and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture helped to design the project. The project will train staff at KNUST, upgrade Global Information System (GIS) knowledge and equipment at the University, and make KNUST a Centre of Excellence in agro-forestry in West Africa. It will also assist the three communities to improve their knowledge of agro-forestry and raise their incomes with more sustainable agro-forestry practices.

Within five years, the project will have helped KNUST establish its reputation as a centre of excellence in this field. It will have financed post graduate training related to agro-forestry for 6 staff for KNUST and 5 technicians from the Faculty of Forest Resource Technologies (FFRT). The project will have helped KNUST establish the FFRT as a satellite campus delivering a full Bachelor of Technology in Agro-forestry. The FFRT will provide young graduates with practical skills required to secure employment in government and private companies increasingly concerned with the environment. The FFRT also will have graduated at least 20 certified agro-forestry practitioners, at least half of whom will be women.

At the community level, the project will have had a direct impact on the incomes and livelihoods of the three communities. It will have trained 900 community members, including 450 women, in agro-forestry techniques designed to improve the productivity and production of the land for these villages. It is with collaborative efforts like this that Ghana will accelerate its development and meet the Millennium Development Goals.

Currently CIDA provides over $65.0 million of assistance annually to Ghana both through its bilateral aid program and through partners like the University of Guelph and KNUST. Environmental issues are a priority for CIDA and environmental concerns cut through all of its programs. The present project addresses these concerns directly. This project complements the work being undertaken in a second project in which CIDA has contributed $400,000 to Canada’s Malaspina College to work with the Sunyani Polytechnic and KNUST’s FFRT in programs dealing with HIV/AIDS, plastic waste, wildfires and ecotourism.

For further information, media representatives may contact:

Maria Lavelle Counsellor Political/Economic Relations and Public Affairs Canadian High Commission Accra, Ghana Tel. (021) 211-521