The Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission John Allotey has lamented over what he described as inadequate resources which is undermining the effective operation and running of the Commission in recent times.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission while speaking at the Commission’s Chief Executive’s briefing and Staff recognition awards in Takoradi indicated that the situation has affected its effort in tackling the fight against illegal mining in several forest reserves in the country.

According to Mr John Allotey, while the issue of illegal mining is very worrying phenomena and matter of concern to all Ghanaians including the Forestry Commission, unfortunately the Commission does not have sufficient resources to combat it.

“The key challenge confronting us today is how to combat the issue of illegal mining. Though our Rapid Response team is doing so well, we need to equip them, (because) they have limited logistics to be able to move in their numbers and run multiple operations at the same time. So this area we will need support from the board and the management to develop some programs that will yield more funds that will be able to resource some of these units”
John Allotey

Forestry Commission Lauded For Its Commitment Towards Government Green Ghana Projects

Meanwhile, Honorable Benito Owusu Bio, the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources in charge of Forestry commended the Forestry Commission and its leadership for its remarkable contribution towards the government flagship ‘Green Ghana Project.

According to the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, through the effort of the Forestry Commisison governemt has planted over twenty one million trees since the commencement of the initiative.

He noted that significant number trees planted under the government green Ghana Project is the biggest tree plantation ever done in the history of Ghana.

“Since the launch of the Green Ghana project in 2021 as part of the Government’s effort to restore our degraded landscape and contribute to the global effort against climate change, over forty-one million seedlings of various plant species have been planted across the country. According to your own data from 2017 to 2023, in the history of Ghana, no president has planted more trees than this government since independence.
Bernito Owusu Bio

However, Honorable Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah, the Western Regional Minister on the other hand recommended to the Forestry Commission to embark on the plantation of bamboo as it promises to be a better alternative to timber.

The Western Regional Minister further emphasized that the bamboo plantation has numerous advantages that the country could receive if it invests in it.

“We believe that Bamboo can also be an alternative to the normal timber species that we have. If you go to China and other countries they can use bamboo to eradicate poverty, and we believe that it is time for the Forestry Commission and the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to raise funds for forest plantation, raise some money for machinery so that as we have bamboo we process it for hard use and into other products”.
Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah