The Upper West Regional Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Mrs Zenabu Wasai-King, says bushfires have reduced soil fertility, destroyed farm produce and lowered general agricultural output thereby exposing the Region to hunger.

She said bushfires, over the years, had been identified as one of the major challenges to the socio-economic progress of the savanna ecology in which vegetation and food crops were consumed perennially by bush fires.

She said the problem did not only affect the biodiversity in the Region but depleted productivity of the soil thereby exposing the savanna region to food insecurity.

Mrs Wasai-King was speaking during the launch of the 2018/2019 Anti-Bushfire Campaign and inauguration of 215-member Bushfire Volunteer squads for the Baayiri and Kataa communities in the Upper West Region.

It was on the theme: “Our Future Depends on Sustaining the Environment, Let Us Prevent Bushfires Now”.

“Protecting the natural savanna ecology is important since most of the people’s livelihood depend on the natural environment,” she said.

“Management of bushfires is a shared responsibility, which requires our collective efforts as a people to address.”

Mrs Wasai-King urged traditional rulers to use their “respected” positions as custodians of the lands to contribute to the fight against indiscriminate bush burning.