Ya-Na pledges support for tree planting exercise

The Overlord of Dagbon, Ya-Na Abukari II, has assured the government of his full support for the planting of five million trees all across the country which is being spearheaded by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.

He stated that he was in full support of the project, adding that on June 11, 2021, the date the exercise would commence, he will come out to plant a tree himself.

He said trees were sparse in the Dagbon Kingdom, which was affecting the environment as well as the lives of people in the kingdom.

“Because the trees here are not many, our rivers usually dry up, affecting the supply of drinking water to several communities in the Northern Region. On that day, you will see me planting a tree myself, to indicate to the people of Dagbon that everyone should join the exercise,” the Ya-Na said.

Ya-Na Abukari pledged his support to the exercise when a delegation from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources called on him at his palace  to support the government’s initiative of planting five million trees nationwide.

Why tree planting

The government’s decision to plant five million different species of trees is to restore the vegetation that has greatly been depleted as a result of the indiscriminate felling of trees and to obtain the objective of the Green Ghana Project.

Paying a courtesy call on Ya-Na last Thursday, a deputy minister-designate for Lands and Natural Resources, Mr George Meriku Duker, indicated that the nationwide tree planting exercise needed collective efforts from government agencies, traditional and religious leaders, the youth and other opinion leaders.

According to him, the involvement of opinion leaders was going to serve as encouragement for their subordinates to partake in the mass tree planting exercise in the country.

He, therefore, called on the Ya-Na to join the President, the Vice-President, the Speaker of Parliament and the Chief Justice on the said date to plant some of the trees to serve as an example to the entire citizenry of the country.

“Your majesty, we will need your support and blessings to plant five million trees nationwide on June 11. On the day, we will want you to plant a tree for Ghanaians to see and emulate,” Mr Duker said.

According to him, the ministry in conjunction with the northern regional minister, the metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives intended to plant over two million trees in the Northern Region alone.

The project, seedlings

The deputy minister-designate indicated that the tree planting was not going to be limited to only the scheduled date, adding that individuals could start planting various species of trees at their various localities ahead of June 11, 2021.

He added that the ministry was also going to ensure that the initiative became an annual one, where aside from the individuals planting at their own leisure, there would be a day set aside every year to undertake nationwide tree planting.

“Obviously, we may not be able to plant all the five million seedlings that we anticipate within a day. So, we are asking that we start planting from today, then we climax it on June 11, 2021,” he said.

Mr Duker further inspected over 25,000 seedlings of different species, including mahogany, acacia, teak and rosewood at the Forestry Commission in Tamale, where he was told that some of the seedlings were ready for transplanting.

He urged the general public to start visiting their district forestry division for the seedlings ahead of time, and to ensure that they took care of the plants until they grew.