2023 Green Ghana exceeds target with 11.5m seedlings distributed so far – Forestry Commission

The 2023 Green Ghana Day witnessed some 11, 530, 672 seedlings distributed and planted across the country, thus, exceeding the 10 million target.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission, Mr John Allotey announced this during a Post Green Ghana Day press briefing in Accra on Wednesday, to update the public.

This year’s Green Ghana Day took place on Friday, June 9 nationwide, which saw Ghanaians of all walks of life including parliamentarians, chiefs, students, pupils, judges and public servants planting trees at their backyards, maiden of roads and parks to help restore the degraded forest cover.

The project was launched by President Nana Akufo-Addo in 2021 as part of an aggressive afforestation and reforestation agenda of the government.

The initiative is intended to restore the lost forest cover of the country devastated by illegal small-scale mining and timber logging.

The maiden edition targeted to plant five million trees, but ended up planting over seven million seedlings.

The programme also aims at inculcating values of planting and nurturing of trees in the citizens, particularly among the younger generation, to mitigate the negative effects of climate change as well as beautify the environment.

Mr. Allotey, in his presentation, explained that four regions of the North including, the Northern Region, North East Region, Upper East Region and the Savannah Regions had only undertaken commemorative planting as they await the rains in order to engage in full planting exercise.

He said the Ashanti Region topped the regional target with 137 per cent distribution rate which equaled to 3,147,306 actual seedlings distributed from an initial target of 2,300,000.

He noted that aside from the Ashanti Region, the Eastern, Western North, Central, Bono, Ahafo, Upper West and Greater Accra regions also exceeded their targets.

From an initial target of 50 percent in forest reserves, he said, there was purported planting of 61.3 per cent in forest reserves whilst 38.7 per cent were planted in homes, medians of roads and other locations.

The five top seedlings distributed per demand were cashew, oil palm, coconut, orange and timber species.

The Forestry Commission CEO applauded the role the media played in ensuring the successful distribution of the seedlings during the day, adding that all information regarding Green Ghana was available at the district level of the Commission.

He also lauded some leading private plantation companies and churches that contributed seedlings.

He singled out the Presbyterian Church, the Church of Pentecost, the Apostolic Church, the Catholic Church and the Methodist Church as the top five churches that deserved commendations.

He also gave plaudits to the Ecoplanet Bamboo West Africa, Sakam Savana Co. Ltd, and the Global Green Gold while commending the Muslim Community, particularly the Chief Imam for his immeasurable support.

A Deputy Minister for Lands and Forestry, Mr Benito Owusu-Bio who doubled as the National Chairman of the 2023 Green Ghana Planning Committee, appreciated the efforts of all Ghanaians, who in diverse ways supported the project.

He called for an effective monitoring and supervision of the seedlings planted to improve the survival rate over the previous years.