Kumasi, April 7, GNA - The Vocational Training for Females (VTF) Programme of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana has embarked on the growing of medicinal herbs and economic trees on four of its 14-acre land at Kyirapatre near Kumasi.

The idea is to prepare the site at the Ramseyer Vocational Institute for the establishment of the Presbyterian Centre for Vocational Instructors Development.

Miss Comfort Ntiamoa-Mensah, Director of VTF and Co-ordinator of the project, said this after she has led 12 vocational and technical students and their teachers from Germany, staff and students from Ramseyer Vocational Institute and staff of VTF to plant economic trees at the site on Tuesday. They planted avocado pears, different orange species including sweet orange, lemond and manderina, oil palm seedlings, pineapples, timber trees including Framo, Abako, Mahogany, Danwoma and Amire as well as exotic Jaboticaba and Ranbotan.

The medicinal herbs included black pepper, prekese, nutmeg and cinnamon were planted last year and that 15 million cedis had been sunk into the project.

Miss Ntiamoa-Mensah indicated that the economic tree project is being funded by the Canadian Protestant Development Services, while the medical herbs project is also being funded by the Presbyterian World Service and Development.

She said the growing of the herbs and the trees would not be used for only teaching and research projects but also provide revenue to feed the centre.

Miss Ntiamoa-Mensah said efforts were being made towards the sourcing of funds for work to begin on the centre by next year.

Mr Edward Yeboah-Danso, founder/director, Ahyiresu Naturalist Centre at Aburi in the Eastern region and a consultant to the project, hoped it will go a long way to make the centre to become viable when it is built.. Mr Emmanuel Appiah, Principal of Ramseyer Vocational Institute, stressed the need for educational institutions to embark on tree planting, adding that it also behoves on all Ghanaians to plant trees in support of the government's afforestation programme.