The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Mr. Samuel Abu Jinapor, has stated that government is targeting to plant about 10 million trees for this year’s Green Ghana project.
The minister disclosed that the 2023 edition of the Green Ghana Day has been fixed for Friday, June 9, 2023.
Launching this year’s Green Ghana Project, the minister said several factors accounted for government’s failure to meet last year’s target.
“On the maiden edition of the Green Ghana Day, we targeted 5 million trees and with your support, over 7 million trees were planted. Last year, we raised our ambition and targeted at least 20 million trees, and again, with your support, 24 million trees were planted, bringing the total number of trees planted to over 30 million trees.
“So far, the field assessment report shows that, on average, we had a 72 percent survival rate last year as compared to the 81 percent survival rate in 2021. While adequate measures were put in place to ensure the survival of all trees planted, a number of external factors accounted for the survival rates including rainfall patterns, wildfires, and soil fertility.”
Mr Jinapor indicated that the reduction in the number of trees to be planted in this year’s Green Ghana Day, as compared to last year’s target of 20 million trees, will help create ample time for the nurturing of the already planted trees to enhance the survival rate.
“The survival rate shows that we still have some 23 million trees to nurture. It is for this reason that this year, the government has decided to revise our target downwards to 10 million trees to give us some devoted resources and attention to the trees planted over the last two years while not wasting momentum on our quest to restore our degraded landscape.”
