The Ministry for Lands and Natural Resources has embarked on an inspection tour of Green Ghana seedlings at Shai hills and its environs as part of a buildup of activities towards the 2023, Green Ghana Day.

Leading the media and the team from the Ministry and the Forestry Commission staff on the field trip, Mr Joseph Osiakwan, Technical Director for Forestry revealed that an initial 2,500 trees were planted in the Shai Resource Reserve. However, he stated that due to weather conditions among others, 50% of the seedlings survived whereas those off the Forest Reserve had a 74% survival rate for the 2022 tree planting exercise in the Shai Osudoku District.

At both Reserves, Mr. Osiakwan, remarked that the growth of the seedlings is so encouraging but urged the Forestry officers to up their game as Green Ghana 2023 approaches. Owing to this, he urged the officers to actively involve the private plantation developers who he said are already willing not only to plant but also properly nurture the seedlings into trees, which is the main goal of the whole Green Ghana exercise.

To this end, he assured the Ghanaian public that, all planting sites will be visited in the neighboring communities, districts, and regions before this year’s Green Ghana Day.

Following this, the Technical Director for Forestry expressed optimism that the District will do better than it did during the Green Ghana Project 2022 in terms of procuring seedlings for the upcoming Green Ghana Day.

Planting of seedlings ahead of Green Ghana

Speaking at the Chipa Forest Reserve, Madam Winifred Ohene -Wiafe, the District Manager for Forestry Commission, explained that 52 compartments which are made up of about 32 hectares of Lands saw the planting of a total of 5,500 seedlings on five hectares.

She disclosed that depending of the seedling type, some of their growth levels take time, naming the Mahogany seedlings as an example.

On his part, the Park Manager, Mr. Prince Anane Agyei, revealed that the “purpose of tree planting serves as a buffer when the reconstruction begins which will be a boundary to protect and serve its purpose”.

The plantation is said to have in-store seedlings such as Acacia, Mahogany, and Casia among others this year.

It will be recalled that the Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources responsible for Lands and Forestry, Benito Owusu-Bio, disclosed that President Akufo-Addo will next month, launch the 2023 edition of government’s aggressive afforestation and reforestation programme – Green Ghana Day to help restore the country’s degraded landscapes.

Mr Owusu-Bio explained that this year, the Green Ghana Day has been scheduled for June 9, 2023, with a target of 10 million seedlings to be planted across the country; 6 million on-reserve and 4 million off reserve.

Mr Owusu-Bio subsequently employed the opportunity to appeal to all Ghanaians and the international community to embrace and support the 2023 Edition just as they have demonstrated high enthusiasm in the previous years.

He mentioned that to observe the International Day of Forests, the Forestry Commission had a week-long programme for school children, which was aimed at creating awareness and active involvement of children in the celebration. To achieve this, he called on all and sundry to support the vision of the President to restore the country’s degraded landscapes for better nutrition, better environment and a better health for all.

Mr Owusu-Bio also noted that the measures being embarked on by Government through the Ministry are yielding some positive results.