Kumawu (Ash) The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr. Daniel Ohene Agyekum, has called on timber contractors to replant the forests in which they operate as their contribution to the fight against desertification. Mr. Agyekum made the call at Kumawu on Wednesday after a two-hour tree-planting exercise organised by the Sekyere East District Assembly and the Kumawu Traditional Council with technical assistance from the Forestry Department. Mr. Agyekum, who planted 27 out of the 3,000 seedlings in the catchment area of the River Anorkwasu, described trees as life, saying “if man should exist then trees should be protected to give life to man”. The Regional Minister drew the attention of the 50 students from Tweneboah Kodua Senior Secondary School who took part in the exercise to activities which have led to the depletion of the forest and thanked the Forestry Department for its assistance in sustaining the programme. The outgoing District Chief Executive, Mr. James Boadi-Danquah, told the people that the exercise is meant to instill in them the need to protect the ecology. He charged farmers to pay the same attention to the trees as they give to their food crops. The Omanhene of the Kumawu Traditional Council, Barima Asumadu Sakyi the Second, expressed concern about the extensive damage caused to the environment through human activities and warned all those who have encroached upon the catchment area to stop. The District Forestry Officer, Mr. Richard Gyimah, said 2,000 species of acacia and 1,000 teak seedlings have been supplied for the exercise. His Department, he said, has targeted the catchment areas of both River Onwam and Anorkwasu, adding that the next phase will be conducted at the catchment area of River Onwam to provide vegetation around the dam to avoid sedimentation.
