Launched to commemorate this year's World Environmental Day, the project aims to plant 11,000 Mango and Acacia seedlings at specially selected locations across the Region.

The planting exercise, fully funded by Olam Grains Ghana, is being rolled out in phases on a month-by-month basis until the end of 2019 and is under the coordination of Mr. Abu Idrissu, Northern Regional Director of the EPA.

The first phase of the project saw a total of 3,000 trees being planted at four educational institutions in the Region: University of Development Studies, Tamale (1000 seedlings), Tamale College of Education (700 seedlings), Tamale Senior High School (1300 seedlings) and the Nahdah Islamic Junior High School (500 seedlings).

Mr. Bishesh Ranjan Jha, General Manager, Sales at Olam Grains, said the tree planting initiative was the company's 'small contribution' towards the general effort to curb the degradation of the environment.

Mr. Bishesh said Olam Grain was happy to have the opportunity of using the tree planting exercise as a medium of generating public awareness about how critical it had become in recent times to keep the environment safe and secured.

Mr. Idrissu expressed EPA's appreciation to Olam Grain for its support and partnership in the environmental protection initiative, which he described as 'the very first of its kind'.

He urged the authorities and students of all the beneficiary institutions of the tree planting programme to play their part in nurturing the growth of the seedlings, because not only would trees and plants ensure a balance in the ecosystem they were also a principal source of food. 

Dr. Dzigbodi Adzo Doke, Head of Department of Ecotourism and Environmental Management at UDS, who spoke on behalf of the beneficiaries, expressed gratitude to the Olam Grains and EPA for their support for the seedlings and gave the assurance that the schools would put in every effort to put the seedlings to good use.

Olam Grains Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of Olam Ghana is the owner of a state-of-the-art flour mill which produces some of the country's most popular flour brands, among which are First Choice and Royal Gold.

Established in 1994, Olam Ghana is a leading agro-commodity company in the country and is currently the largest private LBC (Licenced Buying Company) in the cocoa sector. In addition to the flour mill, Olam Ghana operates a Tomato Mix processing and canning facility and a Biscuit manufacturing factory, producing some of the most popular, quality brands like Perk, King Cracker, Royal Feast, Royal Aroma and Tasty Tom Enriched Tomato paste under respective portfolios.