Let’s All Come Together To Fight Bush Fires- Forest Officer Appeals To Stakeholders                                                                                       

                                                                                   
A forestry officer in charge of plantations in the Tein 2 forest in the Bono Region, Nana Agyei Sikafo has appealed to stakeholders to come together to fight bush fires.

 Nana Agyei who is also the Twafohene of Sunyani Asufufu in an interview with Soiree news disclosed that bush fires have destroyed almost all the Tein 2 forest which he said is the activities of the Fulani herdsmen who have taken over the forest with their cattle. 
Nana Agyei Sikafo added, “ the herdsmen are destroying the forest therefore, I am appealing to chiefs, NGO’s and other stakeholders to come together to help fight the menace”.
He, therefore, appealed to farmers to desist from activities that lead to bush fires because it destroys properties they have been working hard for years.
The Sunyani Division of Forestry Commission has declared war against cow herders in the municipality for destroying the forest reserves with their activities. 
Meanwhile, the Sunyani District Director of the Forestry Commission Mr. Francis Brobbey said the destruction of tree saplings as a result of cattle grazing by the Fulani herdsmen has constituted a major drawback to the tree plantation development in Ghana. 
According to him, the Sunyani Municipality has seven forest reserves and these Fulani's have invaded into five out of the seven destroying the reserve as a result of their daily activities, however, his outfit has begun a massive clampdown on cow herders in the municipality for flouting the open grazing laws enacted in the country. 
He said this move forms part of efforts to curb activities of destroying the forest reserves in the municipality. 
He explained their activities are not only destroying the forest reserves but rather destroying the food crops and water bodies as well. 
Mr. Brobbey said the destruction of tree plantations is not limited to the cattle trampling on and feeding on the saplings but also as a result of the forest fires created by these herdsmen in their desire to create a conducive environment for cattle ranching. 
He called upon the Government to seriously tackle the “Fulani menace” as a matter of urgency if it wants its Forest Plantation Strategy to be successful since the main aim of the Fulani herdsmen is to convert forests into rangelands through repeated forest fires. 
He however entreated stakeholders in the country to put hands on deck to fight the Fulani menace to save the forest reserves.
 He made this known after the forestry commission together with the military visited one of the forest reserves in Adobe at the Sunyani West Municipal of the Bono Region to inspect the state of the reserve where one Fulani herdsman was arrested for destroying the forest with his cattle.