By Elizabeth Larkwor Baah
Tema, June 19, GNA – Ms. Mary Kupualor, the Head of the Horticulture Department, Tema Metro, says planting, nurturing, and sustaining trees have become a challenge due to the presence of cattle and other stray domestic animals in the metropolis.
She said: “Here in Tema, one of the challenges that we have encountered over the years, especially last year and this year, is animals, especially cattle; they are everywhere, all over the Metro, and you ask yourself, ‘where are the owners?’”
Ms. Kupualor, who doubles as the Metro Landscape Designer, said the inability of herdsmen to keep cattle in their kraals had become a major hindrance to their efforts, adding that the issue needed urgent attention as the animals roamed freely, destroying things with nobody being held accountable.
She told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that there had been several instances where cattle invaded the Horticultural Department and destroyed plants and other things, and there was nothing they could do but try to find a way to move them out.
She added that the Assembly alone could not control the animals; therefore, it was important for individuals in the metropolis to join the agenda of planting, preserving, and protecting trees being planted for human survival.
The horticulturist added that even though protectors were used for the plants to a certain stage before being lifted, the animals always found their way to destroy the plants, and therefore cautioned the herdsmen against allowing their animals to stray without any control in their attempt to graze.
She said the assembly had built a pond to catch animals straying there; however, it would require collective effort and a change of attitude to make Tema shine again.
Meanwhile, some residents of Tema and Nungua have called on government to make the various metropolitan, municipal, and district assemblies (MMDAs) account for the Green Ghana Project.
They said even though the project was important in creating habitat for wildlife and preserving vegetation, it was equally prudent to account for the trees planted so far to ascertain if the project was yielding the expected results or not.
They told the GNA in a random survey that planting trees was important in combating climate change and other environmental destruction; however, they cannot identify fruits or ornamental plants purported to have been planted over the years under the project.
They were of the view that parts of the money being used for the planting could be channeled to other sectors of the economy that were in need.
“I will suggest they champion the tree planting at the galamsey sites so that we can increase agriculture production in the country; look at what the sites have turned into death traps for people,” Mr. Arnold Tay, a shoe dealer, said.
“Tema cannot boast of a single tree planted since the project began; the project is good, but steps are not taken to ensure that it yields results. We can’t see any trees around, but every year they keep pumping money into it,” Ms. Mary Asamoah, a beautician at Tema, stated.
GNA