Some 300,000 Ghanaians will benefit over the next five years from a $27.7 million grant received by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency International (ADRA) for agriculture, health, and other development projects.

One agroforestry project will nearly double the number of nurseries for seedlings. Currently, ADRA Ghana operates 31 nurseries and now plans to add an additional 29. The project has benefits in many areas: planting seedlings near lakes and rivers improves protection from pollution; some trees both provide nuts for food and help form natural boundaries for fields; and erosion control training will result in higher crop yields as cultivation techniques are improved.

Primary health is also a part of this grant; the goal is to reduce malnutrition through community nutrition education, promoting consumption of foods rich in vitamin A.

ADRA activities in Ghana have evolved from emergency relief operations to long-term development projects. In collaboration with the University of Ghana, ADRA is teaching 1,500 farmers to cultivate a new type of orange that matures when local citrus trees are resting. Micro finance programs provide small loans and training to people who have small businesses or the capacity to establish one.

Nearly 82 million people live in Ghana, a nation ranked 129 out of 174 countries by the United Nations Human Development Report for 2000. Adult literacy for men is 77 percent; for women, it is 57 percent. Average life expectancy is 59 for women and 56 for men.

Food security is the largest of ADRA’s five major portfolios. ADRA recently qualified for USD$51 million in new food security grants from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). These new projects will benefit more than 900,000 people in Ghana, Nicaragua, and Mozambique.