The Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Benito Owusu-Bio, has revealed that the government has approved an amount of GHC2.5 million for the 2023 Green Ghana tree planting.

According to him, the Forestry Commission through its district offices and internal nursery will provide three million seedlings, while another three million seedlings will be provided by the Commission’s alternative livelihood programme.

Speaking at a press conference at the ministry on the government’s preparation towards the 2023 Green Ghana Day celebration today, April 26, 2023, Mr Owusu-Bio noted that the Plantation Fund Board, which was established by government through the Forestry Commission will assist in private plantation development.

“It is also going to assist with 500,000 seedlings, and some committed donors providing us 1 million seedlings. All of these will be up to 7.5 million out of the 10 million. As we speak now, our approved budget for the Green Ghana this year is GH₵2.5 million.”
Benito Owusu-Bio

The deupty lands minister lamented that the money approved by government for the celebration is insufficient. However, he stated that the ministry cannot resolve going against the celebration of the tree planting exercise.

“So, there’s the need to start appealing for funds, which we have started since last year and we are hopeful that we will get some support from our partners to make this possible.”
Benito Owusu-Bio

It will be recalled that in June last year Mr Owusu-Bio revealed that the government released six million cedis for the tree planting exercise although nine million cedis was budgeted. He attributed the reduction to the economic situation of the country due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

Mr Owusu-Bio noted that although the GHC6 million is not enough, government had to manage to be able to execute the project. He indicated that the Ministry was waiting for more donations from the media, corporate bodies, CSOs and private individuals to pay or defray off some of the cost.

Government is targeting to plant some 10 million trees

Meanwhile, the government is targeting to plant some 10 million trees this year. The number represents a reduction in last year’s target of 20 million.

Launching this year’s Green Ghana Project, Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Samuel Abu Jinapor, stated that several factors accounted for the government’s failure to meet last year’s target.

“On the maiden edition of the Green Ghana Day, we targeted 5 million trees and with your support, over 7 million trees were planted. Last year, we raised our ambition and targeted at least 20 million trees, and again, with your support, 24 million trees were planted, bringing the total number of trees planted to over 30 million trees.”
Samuel Jinapor

The lands minister explained that the field assessment report shows that, on average, the seedlings had a 72 percent survival rate last year as compared to the 81 percent survival rate in 2021. While adequate measures were put in place to ensure the survival of all trees planted, he indicated that a number of external factors accounted for the survival rates including rainfall patterns, wildfires, and soil fertility.

Celebrating on the theme, ‘Our Forests, Our Health,’ Mr Jinapor revealed that the reduction in the number of trees to be planted in this year’s Green Ghana Day will help create ample time for the nurturing of the already planted trees to enhance the survival rate.

“The survival rate shows that we still have some 23 million trees to nurture. It is for this reason that this year, the government has decided to revise our target downwards to 10 million trees to give us some devoted resources and attention to the trees planted over the last two years while not wasting momentum on our quest to restore our degraded landscape.”
Samuel Jinapor