Some grasscutter farmers in the Upper West Region say Grasscutter farming is one of the impactful alternative livelihood activities for people irrespective of one’s occupation due to its economic potential to the farmer. The farmers said this in Wa during the Ghana Grasscutter Project training workshop.
They said it served as a source of protein food for the family while the droppings served as manure for crop production. The grasscutter farmers told Info Radio that keeping the grasscutter was not difficult and encouraged other people to venture into grasscutter farming.
Currently, there are about 40 grasscutter farmers in the Upper West Region being supported by the Grasscutter Initiative for Rural Transformation (GIFT) under the Ghana Grasscutter Project.
Professor Miho Murayama, a Director of the GIFT, said grasscutter farming is suitable for the harsh weather conditions.
“Growing grasscutter has a lot of merits, so we thought is good to grow grasscutters in the Upper West Region. Gradually the number of farmers and number of grasscutters increased.”
Dr Boniface Kayang, also a Director of GIFT, said grasscutter farming prevents people from interacting with animals in the forest.
“Grasscutter is very expensive, the meat; a lot of people like it, so the market is there,” he added.
The Ajinomoto Foundation (TAF) was currently funding the project to scale up grasscutter farming in the region and to support the processing of grasscutter meat to attract the international market.
Mr Kenji Shinkai, the Manager of TAF, said they decided to support the project because of its potential to improve the nutrition situation in the region.