The Chairman of the Forestry Commission (FC) Board, Tetrete Okuamoah Sekyim II, who is also the Paramount Chief of the Wassa Amenfi Traditional Area, has expressed his satisfaction so far at work done by the Climate Change Department (CCD) of FC, which is implementing the Ghana Shea Landscape Emmissions Reduction Programme (GSLERP) in the northern part of the country.
He commended staff of FC and local community members who are working tirelessly to ensure that all the degraded shea parklands in the northern part of the country are restored. He encouraged staff to continue working hard to plant trees in that part of the country, as it has a very fragile ecosystem.
Tetrete Okuamoah Sekyim II said these when he led members of the FC Board, the Deputy Chief Executive, Mr. Nyadia Sulemana Nelson, and other staff of FC to inspect tree nurseries and plantation sites of the GSLERP in the Northern and North East Region.
At the Libga Tree Nursery, which is operated by Sahara Agric and Wilmar, the team was conducted round the nursey and was informed that the nursery intends to raise over 33,000 grafted shea seedlings, using women from cooperative groups who have been trained on seedling grafting. There was a practical demonstration of how the shea seedlings are grafted, using the rootbase and scions.
Daka Forest Reserve
The Team visited the Shebo portion of the Daka Forest Reserve in Walewale, to inspect a three – month old 55ha Modified Taungya System (MTS) plantation. The area has about 40,000 tree seedlings, intercropped with soya bean and maize.
The Chief Executive of FC, Mr. John Allotey, informed the farmers who are working on the plantations that the Chairman of FC Board and the Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Dr. Angela Lusigi, were at the planting site to see the good work the farmers have been doing over the period to help in restoring the degraded areas of the Reserve. He advised the farmers to take good care of the planted trees as they harvest their crops because when the trees form canopies, the farmers will be moved to other sites to continue planting their crops as they nurture the trees planted. He thanked the farmers for their dedication and hard work.
The farmers also expressed their heartfelt appreciation to the Board Chairman, the Chief Executive and the entire team for making time to travel all the way from Accra to visit them. They said it was the first time ever that such a high powered delegation from FC has paid a visit to the planting site and expressed the hope that they will see more of such visits. They promised to put in more efforts to ensure the success of GSLERP.
Gidogi Community Forest Landscape Restoration Site
Members of the Board, the Deputy Chief Executive of FC, Mr. Nyadia S. Nelson; the North East Regional Manager of the Forest Services Division, Mr. Isaac Sintim Yabbey; and other staff went to the Gidogi Community Forest Landscape Restoration site, which is about 35km from Pegu. Farmers in the community have planted about 151 ha through the Modified Taungya System (MTS) in Nasia Forest Reserve.
The Chairman of the FC Board commended the community and staff of FC who have accomplished such a great feat under very challenging circumstances. He urged them to do more to achieve the set objectives of the GSLERP.
Mr. Yabbey expressed his utmost appreciation to the Board of FC for visiting them in that part of the Region and mentioned that it was the first time such a thing had happened. He appealed for more of such high powered visits to boost the morale of staff. He appealed for the supply of more logistics to enable the staff in the Region and project implementation areas patrol the reserves in the Region and work even harder.
Eco Restore Tree Nursery
The team called on the Eco Restore Tree Nursery site, another partner for GSLERP. The team was taken round the nursery and was informed that the nursery plans to raise 50,000 shea seedlings for planting next year. The team was also shown other tree seedlings like rosewood, kapok, baobab, African Birch, Tamarind, among others.

Paga Crocodile Pond
The team took the opportunity to visit the Paga Crocodile Pond, where they were taken round the Pond and given the history behind the Pond, which has become a popular tourist site in the country.