As part of the government’s Tree for Life (T4L) program, staff and students of the Sunyani Technical University (STU), led by the Vice Chancellor, Ing. Prof. Kwadwo Adinkrah-Appiah are planting 2,200 tree seedlings.
The seedlings planted include teak, mahogany, ofram, montalis and royal palm. They are being planted on the main campus of the University in Sunyani and on the University’s land at Duayaw Nkwanta.
The University has also made coconut, mango and orange seedlings available for interested staff who may want to plant them in their private environments.
At a brief ceremony to kick-start the tree planting exercise, the Vice Chancellor, Ing. Prof. Kwadwo Adinkrah-Appiah commended the government for the Tree for Life initiative saying it provides yet another opportunity to deepen STU’s already existing afforestation drive started several years ago.
According to him, the University has actively taken part in such exercises to restore degraded landscape within our campus and inculcate in our students the value of planting and nurturing trees and their associated benefits.
Legacy project
“It would be recalled that in 2022 alone, we planted about two thousand seedlings across various parts of our main campus as part of our 55th anniversary celebrations. I am happy to announce that most of the seedlings planted have survived and are doing very well and would remain part of what we call “legacy project” for the University’s 55th anniversary celebration”, he further said.
Ing. Prof. Adinkrah-Appiah said exercise is even more important to the Bono region since it lies within the transitional belt of the country’s ecosystem with part of the region being forested while some other parts within the savanna enclave.
This, he explained, “presents a huge responsibility on us as a region to work harder to bring under control the depletion of the forest cover.”
He called on all Ghanaians to make it a habit of planting trees any other day, not only on an occasion like this for the overall good of humanity and our children yet unborn.
The Director of Finance of the University, Mr. Thomas Kwafo; the Director of Academic Affairs, Mr. Job K. Manu; the Director of Works, Mr. Samuel Nketia and the Dean of Students, Dr. (Mrs) Vida Owusu-Prempeh; the Head of the Department of General Agriculture, Mr. Kwame Ansah Duodu and other staff of STU teamed up with the students to plant the first fifty seedlings.
Tree for Life project
On Friday, March 21, 2025, Ghana’s President, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, launched the ‘Tree for Life’ initiative, a flagship government program aimed at promoting afforestation and agroforestry. Through this initiative, the government is distributing seven million seedlings of ornamental and food crops through the Forestry Commission to individuals, institutions or organisations for planting.
The ‘Tree for Life’ initiative, according to government, seeks to raise awareness about the critical role trees play in protecting the environment, combating climate change, restoring lands and rivers degraded by illegal mining (galamsey), and inspiring Ghanaian youth to embrace environmental stewardship.