Forestry Commission, NGO plant trees along Afram River

The Resource Conservation Initiative (RCI), a forestry related Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), has in collaboration with the Forestry Commission (FC) initiated a programme to plant more trees along the Afram River at Bepoase in the Sekyere South District of Ashanti Region.

The 18-month project which has begun at the Afram Headwaters Forest Reserve within the Offinso Forest District will protect the Afram River, enrich the forest reserve and resource 50 farmers engaged in the project.

In all, the tree planting will cover 50 hectares ultimately to control climate change and give relief to the people.

Launching the initiative at Bepoase, the project coordinator, Mr Ohene Gyan, said it was necessary to help protect forest reserves in the country.

He said the Forestry Commission and for that matter government cannot do it alone, hence the NGO’s collaboration to excel in the tree planting.

He indicated that sponsored by the United National Development Project (UNDP) under the Global Environment Facility through the Small Grant Project, five communities situated along the Afram Headwaters Forest Reserve would receive immense impact.
The communities, he said included Bepoase, Funfuni, Daaban, Kokoteasua and Beme.

Both the Ashanti Regional Manager of the Resource Management Sustainable Committee of the FC, Nana Amoako Gyasi Adabor II and the Offinso Forest District Manager, Mr Ernest Nkansah Kwarteng, pledged their support for the project.

They stressed on the need to protect the catchment area to replenish the lost cover in years past.

The Bepoasehene, Nana Opoku Agyeman Brefo, who was assisted by the Bepoasehemaa, Nana Monica Agyeman, to launch the project urged the people to do their best to make it a success.

He said they should not only think of the resource benefits for themselves, but of the forest reserve both to the local communities and to the nation as a whole.

The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Sekyere South, Mr Edward Kusi Ayarkwa, commended both the NGO and the FC for the project and advised the people to influence it a great deal.