By Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Yameriga (U/E), June 12, GNA – World Vision Ghana, a non-profit Christian organisation, has called on the government to integrate Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) into national land and forest restoration strategies for maximum impact.
It described the approach as a low-cost, highly effective method with a significantly higher survival rate than conventional tree-planting programmes that had been implemented over the years.
The FMNR is an easy and low-cost land and forest restoration technique used to increase the number of trees on farmlands without necessarily planting new ones.
It involves protecting and managing existing trees and shrubs through pruning and protection from bushfires to enable them to regenerate naturally.
Mr Samuel Abasiba, the Project Manager for FMNR at World Vision Ghana, reiterated the call during an exchange visit by lead farmers and fire volunteers from the Paga and Chiana Area Councils in the Kassena-Nankana West District to Yameriga, one of the communities in the Talensi District where World Vision Ghana had restored part of degraded land.
The Yameriga FMNR site, which began in 2009, had restored about 250 hectares of degraded land across four fields and has become a learning centre attracting visitors, development partners and restoration practitioners from within and outside Ghana.
As part of efforts to expand the initiative, World Vision Ghana, with funding from World Vision Germany, has introduced FMNR in 10 communities in the Chiana and Paga Area Councils, where farmers are expected to restore at least 100 hectares of degraded land in their respective communities.
Speaking during the peer-learning visit involving lead farmers and fire volunteers from communities in the Chiana and Paga Area Councils, Mr Abasiba noted that the FMNR concept had transformed once-degraded lands into thriving forests without the need for planting new trees.
“The FMNR concept is the cheapest and the best, especially for the Upper East Region, where weather conditions are harsh for tree planting.
“FMNR is so cheap and low-cost compared to tree planting. The survival rate is practically 100 per cent because the trees and shrubs are already there. Once they are protected, they grow naturally,” Mr Abasiba stated.
He contrasted the approach with conventional tree-planting campaigns, which often recorded low survival rates due to drought, grazing animals and the high costs associated with raising and maintaining seedlings.
Mr Abasiba expressed concern that despite several engagements with local government authorities and development agencies, FMNR had not been sufficiently incorporated into district and national restoration programmes.
He recalled that World Vision Ghana had organised workshops and field visits for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives, Coordinating Directors and planners from across the Upper East Region to showcase the success of the Yameriga model.
“They were impressed and promised to adopt the practice, but we are yet to see any district formally request training for farmers or integrate FMNR into its restoration activities,” he said.
Mr Abasiba attributed the situation partly to inadequate advocacy and called for greater attention to evidence-based restoration approaches capable of producing sustainable results at lower cost.
Mr Samuel Bantang, Yameriga FMNR Focal Person and one of the pioneers of the initiative in Yameriga, said the community’s commitment to protecting regenerating trees from indiscriminate cutting and bushfires had transformed what was once a barren landscape into a thriving forest ecosystem.
He explained that community members enforced local rules against tree felling and bush burning and actively participated in pruning and protecting naturally regenerated trees, resulting in the restoration of hundreds of hectares of degraded land.
Mr Lambert Kuboga Kuzigiyem, the Assembly Member for the Abimnia, Derenia and Wekogasong Electoral Area, said the project had enhanced community awareness of environmental protection, bushfire prevention and sustainable land management.
Ms Abigail Tiguridani, a lead farmer from Derenia, said the visit to Yameriga had inspired participants to intensify restoration efforts in their communities.
She expressed optimism that within a few years, their communities would replicate the successes recorded in Yameriga through the sustained protection and regeneration of trees.
GNA
Edited by Caesar Abagali/Benjamin Mensah
Reporter: Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Email: [email protected]