Jirapa, May 1, GNA - Naa Angsole Ganaa II, Paramount Chief of the
Jirapa Traditional Area, has directed all divisional and sub-chiefs in the
communities to put measures in place to check indiscriminate felling of tre= es
and bush burning. He said the indiscriminate felling of trees especially economic trees
should be prohibited and that any offender caught would be made to face
the consequences. Naa Ganaa II also warned that anybody, who sets bush fire should be
arrested and punished and failure to arrest the offender the chief of that
particular area would be made to answer. He gave the directive at the maiden celebration of the 93Bong-Ngo"
Festival of the chiefs and people of the Jirapa Traditional Area at Jirapa on
Saturday. Naa Ganaa II said the annual bush burning was the main cause of poor
yields in food crops as it contributed to the depletion of the environment
and the impoverishment of the soil. The Jirapa Naa, who is also a Member of the Council of State, suggeste= d
to government and district assemblies in the Northern, Upper East and
Upper West regions to ban bush burning and indiscriminate felling of trees
to support the efforts of chiefs in their fight against the practice. Naa Ganaa II called on the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to embark
on serious educational campaign in the three northern regions to sensitize
farmers to embrace modern farming practices to improve food crops and
livestock production. He advised farmers in the traditional area to revisit the practice of
"communal spirit of rotational farming for families" to help increase f= ood
production in the communities. The Jirapa Naa also suggested to government and other development
partners to help farmers to harvest rain water for all-year-round crops
production.