By Kizito CUDJOE
The Overlord of Dagbon, Yaa Naa Abubakari Mahama II, has stressed the importance of planting and protecting economic shea trees, especially for the economic well-being of women in the Northern Region.
Speaking at the launch of the 2024 ‘Green Ghana Day,’ he remarked that given agriculture’s central role in the Northern Region, its inhabitants are well-positioned to understand the importance of actively participating in reforestation efforts firsthand, particularly to ensure that “our women can rely on the forest for harvesting shea butter trees to sustain their livelihoods”.
He lamented that the shea butter trees currently being harvested by our women only grow in the wild. He questioned why deliberate efforts are not being made to plant these essential economic trees.
While commending the Vice Chancellor of the University for Development Studies (UDS), Prof. Seidu Al-hassan, for his commitment to promoting the trees, he called for support to enhance their planting efforts.
He further appealed to the Northern Regional Minister and the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to take a special interest in shea trees and establish a committee to oversee their planting, expand their acreage and ensure their protection.
Yaa Naa Abubakari Mahama II pointed out that a significant number of these trees are lost to annual bushfires.
Touching on the importance of the government’s ‘Green Ghana Day’ initiative, he highlighted its role in addressing the effects of climate change, adding:”It will also improve the livelihoods of our citizens, as economic trees are among those to be planted”.
“We, as traditional leaders, warmly welcome this initiative. The people of the Northern Region will continue to play a significant role in the nation’s reforestation efforts,” he said.
“We want this positive trend to be sustained and more done in our Region and beyond, since deforestation is fast creeping into our traditional areas of farming. An aggressive approach, such as the Green Ghana Day, when religiously carried out year to year, would definitely stop the deforestation and desertification of northern regions and re-invigorate our economic activities with the commercial trees,” he stated.
This year’s ‘Green Ghana Day’ exercise is slated for June 7, with a target to plant some 10 million trees, under the theme “growing for a greener tomorrow”.
The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, said the theme is meant to “emphasise the need to, not just plant trees, but ensure the growth of trees planted to reach maturity and contribute to the fight against climate change.”
He said since the assumption of office, the government has been dedicated to an ambitious afforestation and reforestation programmes. This has resulted in the cultivation of almost 721,000 hectares of forest between 2017 and 2023, under the Ghana Forest Plantation Strategy.
Additionally, he said, several trees have been planted under other initiatives such as the Forest Investment Programme (FIP), the Cocoa and Forest Initiative (CFI), the Green Street Project, the Ghana Cocoa Forest REDD+ Programme, Ghana Shea Landscape Emission Reductions Project, the Youth in Afforestation Programme, and the Youth in Plantation Establishment as an Occupation Programme, which have been funded by the Forest Plantation Development Fund.
“In northern Ghana, the ban on harvesting, salvaging, trading, exporting and importing of Rosewood, as well as the issuance of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) permits for the export of Rosewood, has led to the protection of a large majority of our Rosewood, which was near extinction,” he stated.
The minister revealed that over the past three years of implementing the ‘Green Ghana Day’ project, approximately 42 million trees have been planted nationwide, encompassing both on and off reserves.
