Group expresses concern about activities of company

Asamankese, Dec 5, GNA - A group of environmentalists in Agona Swedru and Awutu Bawjiase in the Central Regional have expressed concern about the encouragement being given to Pinora, a food processing company, to deplete forests in the Asamankese area.

They said the company, which uses fuel wood to process its products, buys a large quantity of firewood from the local people, making the people to cut down trees.

A spokesman for the group, Mrs. Mary Carr, told the GNA that a heap of fuel wood they saw in the yard of the company was very disturbing. "The activities of the people, with encouragement from the company, will do more harm than good to them in future."

She reminded the people that the present benefit they were deriving by cutting trees as fuel wood for sale would affect the nation and appealed to the district assembly to help stop the practice. Mr. William Awuku, the Procurement Manager, told the GNA in reaction that the company bought the fuel wood from people having concession outside Asamankese.

He said the company, in its efforts to replenish vegetation in the area, had acquired 610 hectares of land for forestation. About 20,000 species of tree seedlings would be planted in the next five years and the exercise would begin early next year. Mr. Sintim Aboagye, the District Chief Executive for West Akyem, told the GNA that the assembly held discussions with management of the company on the need to look for other alternative sources of energy instead of using fuel wood.