Assemblies fail to set up anti-bush fire committees

A research by Synovate Ghana and the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) has revealed that most district assemblies have failed to implement PNDCL 229 (section 5) which recommends the establishment of anti-bush fire committees at the assemblies.

The anti-bush fire committees are to educate the public against bush fires as well as punish offenders to deter others from indulging in similar acts.

The report, which was released at a day’s sensitization workshop on the enforcement of anti-bush fire by-laws in Tamale on Tuesday, said the non-implementation of the by-law had led to poor and low crop yield in northern Ghana.

It was conducted in seven districts including Savelugu, Nanton, Tolon, and Kumbungu in the Northern Region, where 85 per cent of the respondents said the community anti-bush fire volunteer system was no more active.

The workshop was organised by PFAG with support from the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge Fund, United States Agency for International Development and the Danish International Development Agency.

The report said the indiscriminate bush burning in the region had led to a deterioration of the soil structure leading to a gradual depletion of the nutritional value of the soil, which in turn stifled the growth of crops.

It recommended that district assemblies should respond to the call of chiefs and farmers for the swift implementation of anti-bush fire by-laws to help deal with perpetrators of bush burning.

It called for policies to reduce indiscriminate burning through local community education and environmental awareness programmes, including prescribed burning.