Livelihoods
Our Livelihoods Programme supplies farming inputs, an important factor in
increasing farmers’ yields so that they can work their way out of poverty.
Access to food and livelihood security is a basic human necessity. The majority of people in the Upper West Region are subsistence farmers (no other sources of income). They are vulnerable to drought, famine, and labour crises. In a region facing encroaching desertification, there is a need to stop poor land use practices and minimize dependency on farming. RAAP promotes sustainable land use practices and alternative income generating activities in order to serve the immediate needs of farmers while protecting the long-term productivity of the land.
Several social and economic barriers - from inadequate access to affordable farm inputs to imbalanced international trade policies - compound and exacerbate the environmental threats to livelihood security.
Some of the main objectives of RAAP’s Livelihoods Programme are as follows:
To assist farmers to increase crop production and productivity
To assist rural farmers to improve and increase their livestock
production as an alternative source of livelihood
To ensure an improved community forestry and natural resource
management
To assist poor women and men to undertake small scale businesses
as an alternative source of livelihood
To assist farmers to advocate for the implementation of beneficial
agricultural polices, advocate for access to fair local and international
markets and to promote the consumption of local products
To ensure the economic and social empowerment of rural women
Equally as important, RAAP works very closely with communities to create and build the capacity of community structures such as Village Development Committees, Nursery management teams and Community Animal Health Workers. We strive to create effective linkages and working relationships between duty bearers and rights holders, and promote accountability and transparency on community initiatives
Livelihoods activities:
What we do in livelihoods: crop production, livestock & poultry production, micro-credit, and agroforestry.