The Paramount Chief of Navrongo, Pε Asagepaare II, has pointed at indiscriminate cattle grazing by herdsmen as a threat to forestation activities and farms in his traditional area.
He says he is in talks with his subordinate chiefs to help address the menace. The chief said these during an interview with journalists on the sidelines of a symbolic tree-planting ceremony held Friday.
The event was organised by the Forest Services Division of the Forestry Commission at Navrongo, capital of the Kassena-Nankana Municipality, in celebration of the Green Ghana Day 2023.
“The [herdsmen are] felling the trees for their animals to feed on, which is not good. I don’t support it. I’m talking to my community chiefs. I’m not against the [herdsmen]. But if they are here to destroy our property, we cannot stay with them.
“They open their kraal in the night [for the cattle] to feed on people’s farms when they are not there. You would only go in the morning to see the hoof-prints there. But you would not see any cattle,” the paramount chief said, moments after he had planted a seedling on the premises of the Kassena-Nankana Municipal Assembly.
The planting, which the paramount chief jointly performed with the District Manager of the Forest Services Division, Emmanuel Owusu, betokens the official commencement of this year’s forestation exercise in the municipality.
Forest Services Division offers solution to cattle-grazing problem
Responding to questions on the impact of herdsmen activities on the Green Ghana Project, the district manager told reporters the consequences had been enormous.
“It’s our people who bring the herdsmen. They don’t know anybody here, but before you know it, a landowner has given them land to perch. Before you realise, a politician is leading them.
“So, their fight becomes very, very difficult. When you see them in the forest reserves and you go and sack them, what of the off-reserve areas? Their activities are affecting us immensely. They (the cattle) feed on the trees,” he said.
The manager, who oversees four local government areas in the Upper East Region including Kassena-Nankana Municipality, Kassena-Nankana West District, Builsa North Municipality and Builsa South District, also proffered a solution to the cattle-grazing threat.
“The authorities need to regulate their activities. We have vast land. Let them get a range so that we put all the cattle there, so that they are there within a confined area, so that we get value out of the cattle. It’s job creation.
“We don’t have to fight one another. What are we doing with the idle land that is there? But they allow these cattle to move free range and destroy things and at the end of the day we end up fighting one another. It’s very bad,” he stated.
He disclosed that his outfit was expected to raise and plant 235,000 seedlings in 2023 throughout the four local government areas.
This year’s celebration is themed: “Our Forests, Our Health!”.
Source: Edward Adeti/Media Without Borders/mwbonline.org
