Twenty thousand hectares of land for tree planting

Bolgatanga, June 29, GNA - About 26.6 million tree seedlings of various species will be grown on 20,000 hectares of land all over the country this year.

Mr. Mark Woyongo, Upper East Regional Minister, who said this in Bolgatanga at the launch of the VSO XChange Programme, said government had already released funds for the survey, demarcation and preparation of the land.

This, he said, would provide jobs for the youth as it was estimated to create 12,600 jobs and an estimated 160,000 metric tonnes of food crops to be produced from the plantations.

Mr. Woyongo said the project could only succeed if people stopped indiscriminate bush burning, illegal mining and tree felling and warned that the law would deal ruthlessly with anyone caught engaged in such acts.

He said the region would launch its global environmental day in August and climax it with tree planting all over the region.

The Minister said the poverty situation in the rural parts of northern Ghana was alarming and needed to be fought at all levels and that tree growing could provide good income to many families.

He commended VSO for including tree growing and environmental protection in its programmes and urged the youth who had been trained to teach and encourage basic school pupils in positive environmental practices to work hard and inculcate a lasting sense of awareness of environmental protection in the young people.

Mr. Amidu Tanko, Country Director of VSO, said the organization had included environmental awareness creation and community development in its programmes and the volunteers would teach and also work in the communities.

The Global XChange Programme was launched on the theme, “Education and Climate Change, Securing the Livelihood of Future Generations”.

It seeks to bring the youth from Ghana and the United Kingdom together and give them the opportunity to do practical work in communities in the two countries.

GNA