Gomoa Mankoadze (C/R), Feb 03, GNA - Two farmers in the Gomoa District have appealed to the government to ban group hunting through bush burning in the area to save the destruction of the forest. Nana Kojo Beedu II, Odikro of Gomoa Asebu and Maame Agoa Mansah, leader of the Mankoadze Community Woodlot Committee, made the appeal in interviews with the GNA.
Maame Mansah said trees planted by members in the Mankoadze area had been destroyed by fire set by the hunters.
''If the situation is not checked it can bring about hunger and hardship to the people of the area. Their activities are also causing environmental degradation.''
Maame Mansah said that members of the group were armed with offensive weapons including shotguns, bows and arrows, cutlass and clubs, making it very dangerous for people to confront them. Nana Kojo Beedu said the activities of the hunters have put fear in most women farmers in his area.
He said the hunters sometimes fired warning shots to frighten the farmers to leave their farms before setting fire to the nearby bush that sometime destroy their farms.
Mr Bartholomew Nketiah, the Awutu-Effutu-Senya District Fire Officer, urged farmers to report the activities of group hunters to his office for the law to deal with them.
He expressed regret about the increasing incidence of bush fire cases in the district and appealed to those responsible to put a stop it.