A Service agreement has been signed between the Forestry Commission and the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) with the intention to establish a formal relationship for the implementation of a Forest Plantation Programme, under the Youth in Agriculture and Afforestation Module.
“After the signing of this Service Agreement, the Forestry Commission in Collaboration with YEA will recruit an estimated 15,000 youth across the country that will be trained and equipped to among other things carry out, Forest Plantation Establishment, Maintenance of Existing Forest Plantation, Coppice Management and Enrichment Planting. “said Mr kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission.
According to Mr Afriyie, the move was in in fulfilment of the Government’s budgetary pledge to create employment for the teeming unemployed youth, hence the allocation of funds for the development and implementation of the forest plantation programme.
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He said the funds would be administered by the Agency, which is responsible for the facilitation and coordination of employment opportunities for the youth.
The Forestry Commission, through its Forestry Service Division, is implementing the modified Taungya System under the National Plantation Development Programme, which has engaged over 10,000 farmers across the country and an estimated 4,000 hectares of the forest plantation have been established within degraded forest reserves.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, signed the service agreement on behalf of his outfit, while the YEA’s CEO, Justin Kodua, also endorsed the document.
On his part, Justin Frimpong said the YEA, after several consultations, was partnering the Forestry Commission, which is the public agency mandated to undertake reforestation projects nationwide, with a good track record of successful implementation of forest plantation programmes to implement the module.
Under the Agreement, the Youth Employment Agency would make a monthly contribution of six million Ghana cedis as support towards the implementation of this programme.
The signing, which took place at the headquarters of the Forestry Commission in Accra, had staff of both the Forestry Commission and the YEA in attendance.
The employment is expected to span a period of two years, and will come with a monthly remuneration of Ghc400.
By Mohammed Suleman
