The 2023 Green Ghana Day witnessed some 11,530,672 seedlings distributed and planted across the country, thus, exceeding the 10 million target.

Mr John Allotey, the Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of the Forestry Commission, announced this during a Post Green Ghana Day press briefing in Accra on Wednesday, to update the public.

This year's Green Ghana Day  was held last Friday, June 9 nationwide, which saw Ghanaians of all walks of life including parliamentarians, chiefs, students, pupils, judges and public servants planting trees at their backyards, maiden of roads and parks to help restore the degraded forest cover.

The Day was launched by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo  in 2021 as part of an aggressive afforestation and reforestation agenda of the government.

The initiative is intended to restore the lost forest cover of the country devastated by the illegal small-scale mining and timber logging.

The maiden edition targeted to plant five million trees, but ended up planting over seven million  seedlings.

The programme also aims at inculcating values of planting and nurturing of trees in the citizens, particularly among the younger generation, to mitigate the negative effects of climate change as well as beautifying the environment.

Mr. Allotey,in his presentation, explained that four regions of the North including, the Northern Region, North East Region, Upper East Region and the Savannah Regions, had only undertaken commemorative planting as they await the rains, in order to engage in full planting exercise.

He said the Ashanti Region topped the regional target with 137% distribution rate which equaled to 3,147,306 actual seedlings distributed from an initial target of 2,300,000.

He noted that aside the Ashanti Region, the Eastern, Western North, Central, Bono, Ahafo, the Upper West and the Greater Accra regions also exceeded their targets.

From an initial target of 50 percent in forest reserves, he said, there was purported planting of 61.3 percent in forest reserves whilst 38.7 percent were planted in homes, medians of roads and other locations.

The five top seedlings distributed per demand were cashew, oil palm, coconut, orange and timber species.

The CEO of the Forestry Commission applauded  the role the media played in ensuring the successful distribution of the seedlings during the Day, adding  that all information regarding Green Ghana was available at the district level of the Commission.

He also lauded some leading private plantation companies and churches that contributed seedlings.

He singled out the Presbyterian Church, the Church of Pentecost, the Apostlic Church, the Catholic Church and the Methodist Church as the top five churches that deserved commendations.

He also gave plaudits to the Ecoplanet Bamboo West Africa, Sakam Savana Co. Ltd, and the Global Green Gold while commending the Muslim Community, particularly the Chief Imam for his immeasurable support.

Mr Benito Owusu-Bio, a Deputy Minister responsible for Lands and Forestry, who doubled as the National Chairman of the 2023 Green Ghana Planning Committee, appreciated the efforts of all Ghanaians, who in diverse ways supported the Green Ghana Day.

He called for an effective monitoring and supervision of the seedlings planted to improve the survival rate over the previous years.