The Central Regional Minister, Mr. Eduamoah Ekow Panyin Okyere has lamented the rampant destruction of the forest and land cover by some farmers.
“In an attempt to produce food for the country, our Agricultural practices are seen very destructive”, he disclosed.
According to the Regional Minister, “as a country, the methodology we use to put up our buildings are so remote to the extent that one has to clear a whole acre of trees before you put up your building”.
Mr. Ekow Panyin Okyere who planted trees at the Central Regional Coordinating Council as part of this year’s tree planting exercise underscored the importance of trees to the well-being of all and said it was important that participants committed to nurturing the trees to survive.
He announced that as part of President John Dramani Mahama’s tree of life reforestation initiative he(Ekow Okyere Panyin) had been able to acquire 200 acres of land for planting and called for collective effort to achieve the president’s aim.
Mr. Ekow Panyin Okyere therefore charged the general public to stop politicizing the tree planting programme.
He proposed that Universities should adopt tree planting, ensuring that anyone who entered the University as a student, planted and nurtured a tree.
“By the time you present your final thesis, you will also submitt a report about the ten trees that you planted with clear evidence”, he proposed.
“There is the need for government institutions to check the number of trees that service personal planted in their various Universities or any institution before one can apply for national service. Tree planting certificate should be attached to the national service certificate before one can be recruited in any public sector”, he stated.
Central Regional Forestry Manager, Mr. Emmanuel Owusu Nkwantabisa, led the Forestry Commission (FC) team in the region to undertake the exercise.
He entreated all to take care of trees and nurture them to grow in order to combat the negative effect of climate change.
In an effort to implement the tree for livelihood, Mr. Owusu Nkwantabisa announced that five hundred thousand seedlings had been distributed in the Central Region with an aim to restore the forest, degraded lands as well as water bodies.
