The Project Manager at Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Mr. Philip Atiim, has admonished farmers in Ghana to adopt the habit of planting more trees on their farms to prevent soil erosion, and also to keep soil fertilizer.
According to him, the system of planting more trees will improve productivity and also help farmers to achieve climate change adaptation.
This statement was made known during a field trip dialogue as part of the Northern Ghana Restoration Initiative of the planned Regreening Africa Projects in the Mion District.
The five years project funded by the European Union, implemented by CRS in 2017 would be ending this year, was to create a sustained approach to reversing land degradation and integrating food production through World Agroforestry.
Mr. Atiim pointed out that the projects which were introduced in the Northern and Upper East regions with other partners such as World Vision Ghana, ICRAF Sahel and National and Local Governments target 90,000 hectares and 40,000 households.
Stressing the need for planting more trees, Mr. Atiim revealed that, “Tree planting also increases air quality by filtering a variety of pollutants like heavy dust particles in the household.”
He further stated some benefits of tree planting on farms. According to him, planting trees on the farm improves the capacity of the soil to hold water, and also, naturally cleans pollutants out of the soil and either stores them in their root systems or converts them into less toxic substances.
A farmer in the Ndinyoyili community, Mr. Yahaya Imoro, who has implemented the tree planting as a farmer pointed out that there has been significant progress and improvement in his agricultural business. Aside from the improvement in his agribusiness activities, he mentioned that the trees have also provided shade for his family when farming.
Further, in his speech, he added that the tree planting exercise has also reduced the amount of stormwater runoff into his farm.
He said the trees on his farms have played an important role in reducing erosion and pollution in the waterways to prevent flooding on his farm during the running season.
Another farmer at Tajuudo Community, Mr. Alhassan Moro, expressed his joy in the tree planning mix farming, saying that he started tree planting exercise three years ago through the Regreening Africa’s Project in the Northern restoration initiative.
“The system of planting more trees will improve productivity and also help farmers to achieve climate change adaptation”
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