Women shea collectors in the Kpachiyili community in the Tolon District of the Northern Region were not left out in the Green Ghana initiative that took place nation-wide last Friday as they came out in their numbers to plant shea and other species of tree seedlings to help restore the vegetation cover of their community.

The women, numbering about 300 from the Kpachiyili Women’s Cooperative, who are mostly shea collectors and processors, defied a heavy downpour in the community to plant 1,300 shea, acacia and neem seedlings last Friday.

The exercise was organised by the Global Shea Alliance (GSA), the industry body for shea, as part of its contributions towards the Green Ghana initiative of the government which was supported by the Forestry Commission (FC) which supplied the seedlings for the planting.

The exercise ties-in with the initiative of the GSA to grow 10 million new shea trees over the next 10 years and also sought to protect existing stock from being cut down for firewood and charcoal burning.

Excitement

Some of the enthusiastic women who took part in the exercise expressed their delight and said shea was the livelihood of many women in the northern part of the country; hence, any initiative aimed at increasing the population of shea trees and protecting existing ones from being cut down for charcoal burning and firewood was welcomed.

The women pledged to nurture the seedlings till they matured into trees.

The leader of the group, Ms Amina Sule, said the exercise would go a long way to protect their livelihoods and the environment for the benefit of the present and future generations, saying that the shea nuts were what they raised income from to take care of their families and to send their children to school and meet other needs.

An 18-year-old girl, who is also a member of the group, Miss Fadila Majeeb, expressed her excitement over the exercise and called on the youth in the region, especially in the rural areas, to cultivate the habit of tree planting, particularly shea and help protect existing ones from being cut down.

Restoring shea parklands

The Managing Director for the GSA, Mr Aaron Adu, said GSA had an initiative called Action for Shea Parklands that sought to grow 10 million trees and to protect four million hectares of existing parklands.

He said when the government announced the Green Ghana initiative, he realised that it was in line with the GSA's Action for Shea Parklands project, and for that matter, GSA mobilised the women from the community to plant 1,300 shea, acacia and neem seedlings as part of the Green Ghana initiative.

According to him, there was constant destruction of the parklands out of human activities and climate change, and the aim was to grow new trees across West Africa to replace those that were destroyed.