Farmers have lauded the government’s efforts to green the environment but said the Green Ghana campaign should be used to strategically increase the country’s stock of food and economic trees.

The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS that rather than planting shrubs, acacia and ornamental plants to green the environment under the exercise, the government should encourage farmers and Ghanaians to grow trees with economic value to help increase fruit supplies and foreign exchange earnings.

They mentioned cocoa, cashew, shea, coffee, rubber, timber, mangoes, oil palm, coconut and citrus as some of the trees that the exercise should target.

They further advised that the trees should be planted based on the country’s major climatic conditions to help ensure their survival and wellbeing.

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Segment trees

The Head of Programmes and Advocacy at the PFAG, Mr Charles Nyaaba, said beyond the economic value to be derived, farmers would only be motivated to fully care for the trees when they realised that the trees offer benefits in the forms of fruits and food.

“The whole concept is good because in the savanna zone where most of our members are based, we are almost approaching a desert situation. But the trees have to offer something beyond shade to farmers,” Mr Nyaaba said.

“Those that we saw were mostly shrubs and ornamental plants. There were few economic trees and we think that it will not encourage farmers to take care of them.”

“We need to look beyond just growing trees and target plants that have economic value and can stand harsh climatic conditions,” he said.

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COCOBOD’s initiative

The concern by the PFAG came at a time when the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) and the Global Shea Alliance (GSA) launched separate initiatives to plant a total of 1.73 million forest trees and shea trees under the Green Ghana exercise.

COCOBOD said in a statement that it was planting over 1.6 million forest trees in the 2020/2021 cocoa crop year on cocoa farms across the country.

Its aid of the initiative, which was part of its National Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme, would lead to the replacement of about 40 per cent of the country's cocoa tree stock which was either over-aged or affected by the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease (CSSVD).

It said the Seed Production Division (SPD) of COCOBOD had produced 92 million seedlings for distribution to farmers across the country for planting in the 2020/2021 crop season.

“These are estimated to be planted on about 83,636.36 hectares of cocoa farms, which include CSSVD treated farms, over-aged and moribund cocoa farms undergoing rehabilitation, filling of vacancies in existing young farms, among others.It is for this reason that COCOBOD has made it mandatory for the planting of temporary shade crops and permanent shade trees on all farms before the cocoa seedlings are transplanted.”

“While the temporary shade crops protect the young trees against the sun, thereby facilitating high survival rates, the permanent trees, all of which are forest trees, provide shades and good temperature for the adult trees,” it said.

The board explained that an average of 20 economic trees would be planted on every hectare of cocoa farm with 1,100 cocoa seedlings.

“In the same way that cocoa seedlings are nursed and supplied free of charge to farmers, these shade trees are also provided by COCOBOD free of charge for planting. Thus, with the estimated 83,636.36 hectares of cocoa farms being replanted for the 2020/2021 crop year, about 1,672.727 forest trees are being planted alongside the cocoa seedlings. This signifies the important role of the cocoa business in protecting our environment, ensuring a sustained green Ghana and promoting afforestation, it said.


Shea trees

Similar, the GSA said it planted 1,300 shea trees in support of the Green Ghana campaign.

A statement from the organisation said the shea seedlings were planted by women cooperatives at Kpachiyili in the Northern Region.  

It said trainings in tree management and parkland protection were also provided to the community to ensure the long-term care and survival of the seedlings, as well as existing trees.

The initiative came at a time when the survival of the shea tree is facing increasing pressure from indiscriminate felling, bush fires and other destructive forms of deforestation.

For decades, landscape around the savanna has been under increasing pressure from climate change and human activities.

In the Northern Region, for instance, GSA said forest cover declined by 40 per cent between 2000 and 2015, quoting the Forestry Commission.

It said that presented "significant environmental, social and economic challenges to a vulnerable landscape but also highlights the importance of efforts like Green Ghana Day and the GSA’s Action for Shea Parkland – an initiative to address the rapid decline of shea trees across East and West Africa”.

It said the Shea Parkland involved planting and growing 10 million trees and protecting four million hectares of shea parkland over 10 years.