Akwapem Susubiri (E/R), Jan. 9, GNA - Opanyin Obuabi Mensah, Chief Farmer of Akwapem Susubiri, in the Eastern Region, has urged the Ministry o= f Lands and Forestry to take a serious look at the fast rate at which the forest reserves and rain forest were being destroyed by chainsaw operators and mining companies in the country.

Opanyin Mensah said it was time these companies were tasked to invest into the re-afforestation programmes, as well as engage the local people in the communities, where they ply their businesses, in tree planting, as a wa= y of creating employment and at the same time reclaiming some of the destroye= d forest reserves. He said indiscriminate felling of trees in the forest reserves, especially by chainsaw operators, should be stopped completely, adding that= , the forest reserves, which had been given out to foreign mining companies were of great concern to the people because of the magnitude of degradation caused to the land.

He urged the authorities to look critically at the mining laws again, if necessary, to review some parts of it, in order to protect the reserves. Opanyin Mensah was made these suggestions during a communal labour, organised by farmers from the communities, to fill pot-holes and the reconstruction of wooden bridges on the roads, which serve some of the communities.

The Chief Farmer expressed worry about the rainfall patterns nowadays and warned that if care was not taken to protect the country's vegetation= , food production would not be sustained in the near future. Opanyin Mensah called for the involvement of chiefs, assembly members and opinion leaders in their various communities for the protection of the forest reserves and the water bodies and advocated for a stiffer punishment for those who breaks the rules and regulations of the forest reserves. He suggested that the Government should set aside a day in every year for tree planting exercises throughout the country, which every citizen should at least plant one tree.