Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
becoming rare or near extinction are found. Most of the crops grown are roots and
tubers, notably yam,
Dioscorea
. As described by Gyasi in Chapter 5, and by Enu-
Kwesi, Gyasi, and Vordzogbe in Chapter 12, in Sekesua-Osonson and other areas
settled by offspring of migrant Krobo farmers, the combination of crops mimics
the traditional agroforestry. The trees are used as stakes for the yams.
The general crop combination in the home gardens include peppers, other
condiments, leafy vegetables that are in regular demand by the kitchen, plantain
and bananas, and fruit trees such as mango, citrus, avocado, and sour sops. The
combination of crops with trees maintains ecological stability through, among
other things, minimization of soil erosion by canopies formed by the trees. It also
ensures an effective use of the different soil nutrients by the different crops, and
a balanced diet through the diversity of crops.
Other activities encouraging biodiversity conservation
There are more or less economic activities that generate more value from
conserved biodiversity, or that generate income in some other ways that encour-
age conservation. They include snail rearing, plant nursery establishment, and
beekeeping.
Snails, a prized source of meat that are found in the wild under humid condi-
tions, have come under threat by overfarming and habitat destruction. In all three
demonstration sites, some farmers are enriching biodiversity and enhancing
income prospects by raising snails on a semi-intensive basis in their homes and
in secondary forests conserved in their backyards. Although this begun on a small
pilot basis with PLEC support in all the demonstration sites, it has been taken up
by several individual PLEC farmers.
Plant nurseries are also operated in all the demonstration sites. They are owned
on an individual private basis, and on a group basis by farmers' associations. Sale
of the assorted seedlings from the nurseries yields income to supplement farm
income. Additionally, PLEC farmers use some of the seedlings to rehabilitate
deforested areas in their various localities. This helps to enrich the flora through
integration of new plants, improve soils through increased biomass, and check
erosion through more trees. Examples include reforestation around the Kaja
waterfalls at Prekumase and Bukunya falls at Bormase, all in Sekesua-Osonson,
and integration of a variety of seedlings from the nurseries into food crop farms,
thereby enriching biodiversity.
At Homeso in Amanase-Whanabenya demonstration site, some of these
seedlings form the basis of an arboretum being developed by the association of
PLEC farmers in collaboration with the National Centre for Scientific Research
into Plant Medicine.
There is also a growing popularity of the PLEC-supported practice of using
home gardens and forests conserved near homesteads to keep bees for honey and
