Green Ghana initiative: Bono, Ahafo regions to plant 420,000 trees

The Forestry Commission in the Bono and Ahafo regions are to plant more than 420,000 seedlings in a single day, under the Green Ghana initiative, which is expected to be launched on Friday, June 11, 2021.

The Bono Region, which is made up of 12 districts, is expected to plant a total of 250,000 seedlings, while the Ahafo Region consisting of six districts, is also expected to plant 170,000 seedlings on the day.

Under the Green Ghana initiative, the country is expected to plant five million trees on June 11, 2021, as part of efforts to re-Green Ghana and protect the country’s forest reserves.

According to the commission, thousands of seedlings made up of mahogany, teak and acacia among other different tree species had already been distributed to the various proposed planting sites across the regions.

In addition, large tracts of land in the two regions have been cleared, while other sites are still under preparation and expected to be completed before the launch of the project.   

This came to light when the deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the commission, Ms Martha Kwayie Manu, visited the two regions to inspect some seedlings and proposed planting sites ahead of the exercise.

Visit

The visit was to enable her to ascertain the preparedness and the commitment of the chiefs and people of the regions ahead of the June 11 mass tree planting exercise.

As part of the visit, Ms Manu paid a courtesy call on the Bono Regional Minister, Mrs Justina Owusu-Banahene, to solicit her support towards the Green Ghana initiative.

The deputy CEO visited the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), the St James Seminary and Senior High School (SHS), and seedlings and planting sites at Abesim in the Sunyani municipality.

She also visited Nsoatre in the Sunyani West municipality where the National Youth Employment personnel working with the commission had nursed 50,000 different species of seedlings.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic after the inspection in Sunyani, Ms Manu appealed to the public, particularly traditional leaders, metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs), educational institutions and various faith-based organisations to support the project to succeed.

“We are pleading with all Ghanaians to participate in this programme,” she stated and expressed her satisfaction with the level of preparation that had been made by the regions ahead of the programme.

Ms Manu explained that the Bono regional office of the commission was expected to plant 50,000 seedlings, while Sunyani and Dormaa-Ahenkro were expected to plant 100,000 seedlings each.

Commitment

Mrs Owusu-Banahene pledged the Bono Regional Coordinating Council’s (RCC) commitment towards the Green Ghana projects and said that the initiative was a laudable programme and needed to be supported by all Ghanaians.

She expressed the hope that the Green Ghana initiative would help restore the depleted forest reserves and called on district assemblies, religious bodies and individuals in the region to provide resources such as vehicles to transport seedlings for planting.

For his part, the Bono Regional Manager of the Forest Services Division (FSD), Mr Isaac Noble Eshun, said beside the commission’s 250,000 seedlings, they had also identified individuals with seedlings ready for planting to support the commission with seedlings when the need arose.

Mr Eshun said the commission would make available 450,000 seedlings for distribution to farmers for planting, adding that over 1,000 acres of land was ready for planting.