Green Ghana: Over 22 million seedlings were distributed – Forestry Commission

The Forestry Commission says it distributed over 22 million seedlings for the 2022 Green Ghana Project.

The number exceeds its target of 20 million seedlings.

Government set out to mobilise Ghanaians to plant 20 million trees in a bid to recover lost green spaces including forest areas across the country, but the high uptake of the program led to more seedlings being distributed for planting.

Speaking to Citi News, the Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission, John Allotey said a major contributory factor to the increase in the number of distributed seedlings is the extensive engagement of the Department of Parks and Gardens.

“We distributed over 22 million seedlings across the country. They are still being entered from the districts. One of the things that we have done this year is to engage extensively with Parks and Gardens. They have taken over the medians and other places in the city where we don’t have Forestry Commission staff. More entries will be done. We have to monitor distribution to know what has been planted. We have raised over 25 million seedlings and some institutions have raised seedlings themselves,” he said.

Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo while speaking at this year’s Green Ghana Day event said Ghana’s timber industry is suffering as a result of the depletion of the country’s forest reserves and said the country has in the last 10 years lost over 100,000 acres of natural forest through human activities, a situation that must be reversed.

President Akufo-Addo urged Ghanaians to support the project, as it will go a long way to help fight climate change.