In this latest blog, Tree Aid Project Coordinator, Robert Atawura takes us through an ingenious solution to managing a growing problem when planting trees – enter the grass briquette!

With wildfires on the increase around the world, and concerns these will increase with the return of El Nino in 2023, a creative approach to managing this problem is being trialed in one of the driest regions of Africa. 

As part of the Ecosia-funded Daka River project in northern Ghana, local people are taking part in a pilot study to turn a problem that is fueling the climate crisis– dried grass, into a solution: grass briquettes! 

Restoring the Daka River 

Building on the work done since 2018, this phase seeks to protect communities on the Daka River catchment area in the Mion, Yendi and Gusheigu Districts.   

For many people in northern Ghana, the Daka River is a vital source of water for drinking, washing, cooking, and farming. But a rapid loss of trees and soil fertility, and the effects of the climate crisis, mean that the water level can easily run low, and the river dries out for months on end.   

Tree Aid is working with local communities to help restore the area around the river where soil has become degraded due to climate change, providing income and food security for future generations. 

Three years into the project, Tree Aid has grown nearly 1.5 million trees in this area of the Sahel, giving hundreds of local farmers the skills they need to restore and protect the local environment, including the river itself. 

Turning a problem on its head 

In this region, wood is everything - many rural communities rely on firewood as a source of energy for cooking or earning a living, and even bushes count as a source of energy. This is a major reason for deforestation in African drylands. That’s why Tree Aid really needs to consider this pressure on the land when it comes to planting new trees, to ensure their survival. Sometimes we have to think outside the box, and in the case of grass briquettes, this is exactly what we did.  From seeing a similar idea trailed in a different part of Africa, Country Director Jonathan Naaba put together a pilot with academics in Ghana, to research how effective grass briquettes could be in removing some of the pressure on existing trees. 

Supported by Ecosia, the project team in Ghana, working with two masters students, have rolled out a pilot with 10 communities, bringing the compressor technology and know-how to the local level. For example, it’s essential for a binding agent to be added to the charred grass, and this is where communities themselves have stepped up and got creative, using cassava dough (which is high in starch) rather than relying on purchasing these materials.