Upper West Women Trained To Make Use Of Jatropha

Suntaa-Nuntaa, an environmental Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) has embarked on a programme to use "Jatropha Curcas" a locally grown plant to produce fuel in rural areas of the Upper West region. It has trained over 200 women from 100 communities in the five districts on the production of the seeds of Jatropha and it's processing into fuel.

Briefing newsmen at Kaleo, Naa Bob Loggah, Director of the NGO, said Jatropha curcas had proved to be a very effective fuel plant from researches in India and the Netherlands. He said apart from it being a fuel plant, which could be a close substitute for diesel and kerosene, the plant, could also be used for fencing gardens and school campuses and buildings.

Naa Loggah said every part of the plant was useful for herbal preparations. He said the NGO had targeted rural communities because most people in such areas did not have gas cookers or electricity and relied on charcoal, fuel wood and kerosene as their only means of energy. He said the introduction of the Jatropha energy system would also reduce the high rate of forest depletion.

Naa Loggah said more communities would be drawn into the programme especially to empower women to fight poverty since it could also be a source of income.

Mrs. Jane Danlaara, one of the trained women told the Ghana News Agency that the programme was useful as she could now make use of the plant, which was perceived as a "useless plant". "I believe if we are able to extract good fuel from the plant, it will go a long way to reduce our financial burdens," she concluded.