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A total of 67.4 million seedlings were procured by the Forestry Commission for planting in degraded forests in Ghana between 2017 and the third quarter of 2021.

Mr Samuel Jinapor, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, told Parliament, in Accra, that the seedlings were planted under two major government programmes - the Modified Taugya System, and the Youth in Afforestation/Reforestation Programme.

He gave the figures in response to a question by Mr Frank Annoh-Dompreh, the Majority Chief Whip, on how many seedlings the Ministry procured and planted in the afforestation programme.

Giving the breakdown, he said 7,138,553 were planted in 2017, whereas 17,869,408 in 2018.

In 2019 the trees planted were 19,486,537, whereas 13,405,710 planted in 2020, and the third quarter of 2021 had 9,476,176.

Mr Jinapor said the Forestry Commission procured 4,897,247 seedlings out of 7,193,424 distributed for planting during the maiden edition of the Green Ghana Day, on June 11, 2021.

He noted that the Government, since 2017, had embarked on an aggressive afforestation programme to restore the lost forest cover.

 As a result, between 2017 and the end of the third quarter of 2021, a total of 477,486 hectares of forest were cultivated under the Ghana Forest Plantation Strategy, through various programmes undertaken by government, the private sector, and Civil Society Organisations. 

The Minister said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo,  on  March 1, officially launched the 2022 edition of the Green Ghana Day, slated for June 10, 2022.

The government envisaged to plant at least 20 million trees on degraded forest lands, both on and off reserves, during the 2022 Green Ghana Day.

“May I, Mr Speaker, take this opportunity to respectfully call on you, and the House to support us on the Green Ghana Day, to build a Greener Future for our country,” he said.