By: Nicholas Osei-Wusu
Ghana risks losing an additional 35,000 hectares of its remaining arable land by 2027 unless decisive action is taken to curb illegal mining, illegal logging, unsustainable resource exploitation, pollution, and the impacts of climate change.
Data from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources reveal that 89,998 hectares of land were irreversibly lost between 2020 and 2024, accounting for 5.14 per cent of the country’s total land area.
According to the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah Buah, if the trend continues, “this will culminate in 12.7 % of Ghana’s agricultural base being destroyed, bringing food production down by 25-305% over the next 3 years.”
The situation, he noted, is attributable to the recent reduction in Ghana’s cocoa yields from more than one million tons to 548, 000 tons in the last season.
The Minister made this known in an address readon his behalf by his Special Assistant, Professor Jerry Kumah, who is also a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Mines and Energy.
He said however that recent policies of government are yielding positive results.
“It is interesting to note that, support for the NAIMOS and security agencies have been able to repossess the 9 red-zoned forest reserves which were completely overtaken by armed thugs. We have also launched the Tree for Life seedlings for afforestation which aims at restoring degraded forest reserves and mined out areas and turn them into ecologically functional landscapes.”
“The target for this year was to plant 30M seedlings. At the end of October, over 26M seedlings had been planted and we hope to complete our target by end of the year”, the Minister’s Special Assistant announced at Akyawkrom in the Ejisu Municipality of the Ashanti region.
He was speaking at the graduation ceremony of the first cohort of the Certificate in Natural Resource Management Programme.
The graduation saw all 67 students, constituting pioneers of the Natural Resource Management programme successfully complete the 18-month training that began in 2024.
The Certificate in Natural Resource Management programme is an initiative of the Forestry Commission with affiliation with the University for Energy and Natural Resources in Sunyani and the Forestry Commission Training Centre at Akyawkrom near Ejisu as the centre.
The students went through theoretical and practical training in subjects such as Wildlife Conservation and Management, Protected Area Management, Forest and Botany, Forest Resource Inventory, Law Enforcement, Ecotourism Development, Wood Science Technology and Drone Piloting required to make them competent forest Technicians for the Forestry Commission and the ally organizations.
Twenty-one students, including six women, graduated with Distinction. Daniel Awiti Asante was adjudged the Best Male and Overall Best CEO’s Graduating Student, while Leticia Twumwaa won the award for Best Female Student. The awardees received plaques and undisclosed cash prizes.
The Acting Director of the Forestry Commission Training Centre, Richard Kuutah Ninnoni, said despite the importance of the training programme, management must take steps to address challenges affecting both practical and theoretical components of the training.
He said, the forest reserve at Brosankro in the Ahafo region which, together with the Mole National Park, has been earmarked for students practical training under the CRM Programme has been depleted and now unsuitable for the training.
The Acting Director therefore appealed to management of the Forestry Commission to reconsider that facility and also provide a new bus as well as a modernized Library to help improve the programme.
The Vice Chancellor of the University for Energy and Natural Resources, Prof. Elvis Asare Bediako, urged the graduating students to bring to bear, integrity and discipline into the management of Ghana’s forest and natural resources, and added that, in future, what would be used to remember them would be the forest and landscape they were able to protect not the Certificates they acquired, even though that academic credential is also important.
CEO of Forestry Commission presenting the Best graduating Student’s prize
