By having sustainable alternative sources of income and livelihood, Guinean rural communities can reduce their dependence on forest resources.
In 2020-2021, the Antenna Foundation developed an agro-ecological production model for the dry savannah zone of the Middle Guinea highlands. A 5-hectare mother farm has been set up to test this model in Pita in 2021 in conjunction with local partner Solidarité Suisse-Guinée (SSG).
Following a visit by SSG and Antenna to the Ministry of Agriculture, the cabinet expressed its interest in agro-ecology as well as in the agro-ecological farm concept and the project as a whole. The Ministry committed to a potential nation-wide replication if the mother farms are successfully implemented in each of Guinea's four geo-climatic regions.
Starting in September 2022, the Antenna Foundation initiated the "Agro-ecological learning farms for food security in Guinea project" (FAD-SAG). In addition to implementing mother farms in the three remaining climatic areas (Maritime Guinea, Upper Guinea and Forest Guinea), the FAD-SAG project also aims to train 100 growers in Middle Guinea in agro-ecological practices, as well as to technically and financially support these growers in creating 16 sister farms, in order to replicate and test the practices implemented at the mother farm in Pita for themselves.
At the end of the project, the mother and sister farms will be financially self-supporting, without Antenna’s intervention, and will serve as learning examples for promoting agroecological practices across the country, mainly for the dissemination project planned by the Ministry of Agriculture. This will contribute to greater resilience of Guinean rural communities, enabling them to reduce their dependence on forest resources.
