The Ekiti state Government has destroyed a 20-hectare Indian hemp plantation within the Ise Forest Reserves, as well as and nursery prepared for transplanting of the illegal weeds, an operation carried out by the Forestry Task Force.
Penpushing reports that the Executive Secretary of the Forestry Commission Sunday Adekunle who made this known said the government is fully committed to combating illegalities in the state forest reserves while also actualising its mandate of reducing the rate of deforestation.
The Executive Secretary explained that the action of setting the plantation on fire followed a tip-off that some miscreants were engaging in nefarious activities in the Government Reserves along the Ise axis of the state.
Penpushing further reports that Adekunle pointed out that making the state forest reserves more productive and flushing out men of the underworld from the reserves were high on the agenda of the commission.
The Executive Secretary of the Commission added that the recent recruitment of 22 new forest officers and 17 boundary guards by the Governor Biodun Oyebanji-led administration was having the required multiplier effect, in terms of improved security through regular patrols of the forest reserves.
Penpushing also reports that he stated that efforts were on to encourage local farmers to engage in farming activities on some lands within the forest reserves through agroforestry methods, particularly through planting of tree seedlings being currently raised at the Commission’s Central Nursery at Erinfun in Ado-Ekiti.
The commission boss disclosed that the commission would continue to embark on public education and sensitisation on key areas such as tree planting, wildlife, fire control and other matters, in its bid to boost forest conservation and afforestation efforts in the state.
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