Day: June 27, 2023

The Ghana Red Cross Society (GRCS) has planted 30,000 trees in the Upper West Region as part of efforts to contribute to the government's disaster risk reduction through afforestation. The trees were planted in 15 communities in three districts and municipalities in the region involving 15 schools and mother groups in those communities within two years (2022 to 2023) with funding support from the Italian Red Cross. It was under the International Federation of Red Cross's (IFRC) Pan African Tree Planting and Care Initiative to plant and nurture five billion trees in 10 years (2021-2030) in Africa with an annual target to plant 500 million trees. Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Lawra after the planting of 1,000 multipurpose trees - cashew, cassia, tick and eucalyptus, Mr Solomon Gayoni, the Acting Secretary General of the GRCS, said human activities such as commercial charcoal burning had damaged the environment. 'We have lost a lot of trees to other economic ventures like charcoal burning and the consequences are the harsh conditions we are facing now, there is a lot of heat, the rains are not coming as expected and these are the results of human actions on the environment', he explained. Mr Gayoni, therefore, encouraged the community members to take tree planting and protection seriously and stop the wanton destruction of trees as they formed an integral part of human existence. He advised the Yikpee M/A Junior High School students, who participated in the exercise, to take good care of the trees they planted for them to grow to benefit the community. Mr Jonathan Hope, the Disaster Manager of GRCS, explained that plans had been put in place to ensure the trees planted survived as environmental and human factors such as drought, bushfires and animal grazing affected the survival rate of the trees planted in the previous year. 'This year we are planting another 1000 (trees) in the same communities and, measures have been put in place,' we have taken the community through some education with the technocrats, the Forestry Commission', he said. Mr Hope said they involved the school children in the exercise to inculcate in them the spirit of tree planting and proper environmental practices. He added that their involvement would also enable them to take good care of the trees that they had planted. Mr Hope explained that the intervention was to contribute to addressing the drivers of deforestation by engaging communities in finding alternative livelihoods, and protecting, managing and restoring the forest and degraded land. He said: 'Ghana has one of the highest deforestation rates in Africa and the world, at 2 per cent per annum', and added that the project was to support the GRCS in the region to make commitments towards planting and caring for trees in line with the governments Green Ghana agenda. Mr Jeremiah Kpetaa, a volunteer with the GRCS in Lawra, said he would work with the students and the community members to ensure the trees planted survived. The leadership of the school and the students expressed commitment to caring for and nurturing the trees to grow since it would be to their benefit.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Mumuni Sulemana, Northern Regional Director of the National Youth Authority (NYA) has expressed need for men to complement women's efforts to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goals five and 10. He said the efforts to promote gender equality must not be seen as a platform for competition between men and their female counterparts, but a tool to ensure inclusiveness and tolerance for diversification. He said, 'In a society, where we have more females with few of them being able to occupy leadership positions, it is worrying and requires collective support to reverse the narrative.' Mr Sulemana said this while addressing participants at this year's annual summit on Sustainable Development Goals at the University for Development Studies (UDS) in Tamale. The summit was organised by the Local Chapter of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) of UDS and supported by Songtaba, Savannah Women Integrated Development Agency (SWIDA - GH) and the Regional Advisory Information and Network Systems (RAINS). Hajia Adam Lamnatu, Executive Director of Songtaba, said the prevalence of deep-seated cultural beliefs, which continued to violate and deny women from reaching their full potential. She called on men to be gender transformative to position women as partners for development and agents for positive change.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Nana Sago Akineasin I, Chief of Nkwanta Akyode, has urged the youth to venture into farming for wealth creation and the promotion of food security. in the Municipality, Region, and the country at large. Nana who is also an Aviation Safety Officer described the sector as profitable in an interview with Ghana News Agency during a visit to his yam farm when he encouraged the populace to see farming as a business capable of alleviating poverty than seeing it as a cursed occupation. Nana bemoaned the unwillingness of most Ghanaian youth to take up farming despite the venture being capable of putting one on the path of financial freedom. According to him, young people usually showed no interest in farming due to the assumption that the venture was unprofitable, adding that policies must be put in place to make agriculture attractive to the teeming unemployed youth. He continued that instead of the youth staying at home for years after graduating from university, waiting for white collar jobs, they should get a portion of land somewhere and start planting something and see the result at the end of the year. 'Even though I am a government worker who receives salary every month but I thought it wise to venture into farming to provide food for my family and even some for commercial purposes because one can not live solely on one job for survival in this era since farming is our traditional occupation that do not require any qualifications, certificate or anything hence my decision to venture into farming' he said. Touching on the advantages of farming, he explained that when given the required attention, more food and animal products would be locally produced, reducing the country's over-reliance on other products and other food items. He said this would also go a long way to promote rural prosperity as demand for food items from rural farming communities would increase. The chief encouraged persons who were already in farming to do more research, get in touch with Extension officers in their areas and adapt to new methods of practising safe farming to boost yields and prevent post-harvest loss and also avoid the use chemicals on farms to avoid the harm that comes after consuming the foods and also to prevent the soil from losing it natural nutrients.

Source: Ghana News Agency