President Akufo-Addo to launch Youth in Afforestation Programme
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo–Addo will on Monday launch the Youth in Afforestation Programme in Kumasi, a statement from the Forestry Commission said on Friday.
The launch is in line with the Ghana Forest Plantation Development Strategy: 2016-2040 (GFPS), which seeks among others to establish 25,000 hectares of forest plantations annually.
In November 2016, the Forestry Commission, in line with the 2012 Forest and Wildlife Policy, launched the Ghana Forest Plantation Development Strategy: 2016-2040 (GFPS), which seeks among others, to establish 25,000 hectares of forest plantations annually.
Additionally, the GFPS seeks to undertake enrichment planting of degraded forest reserves, planting of trees on farms, and maintenance/rehabilitation of existing forest plantations.
In line with the GFPS, the Forestry Commission (FC) and the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) in November 2017, signed a Service Agreement for the joint implementation of the two-year Forest Plantation Programme, under the Youth in Agriculture and Afforestation Module.
Under the Service Agreement, engaged beneficiaries would provide labour for all the activities to be implemented under the Forest Plantation Programme, which would be funded by the Government of Ghana through the Forestry Commission.
As part of the criteria for recruitment of the needed labour for the plantation programme, the Commission clustered and segregated beneficiaries into three (3) categories based on their levels of educational qualification as follows: Supervisors – First Degree and above, Assistant Supervisors – Higher National Diploma (HND) and Field Staff – Basic Education Certificate in Education (BECE), West Africa Senior Secondary School Certificate in Education (WASSCE).
Beneficiaries were then trained in basic forest plantation development techniques by Forestry Commission officials, after which they were posted to their various stations, where they have started working in earnest.
Beneficiaries have been supplied with the required logistics like boots, machetes, raincoats, water bottles, seedlings, among others, to facilitate their work.
Source: GNA