The chiefs and people of the Lawra Traditional Area would embark on a vigorous education campaign and forestation programme to restore the degraded lands especially those along riverbanks. In this regards, they have appealed to the government to extend its Plantation Development Programme to support their efforts. Mr. Edmond B. Born, Vice Chairman of the Festival Planning Committee, said this at a durbar of chiefs and people of the Lawra Traditional Area to mark Kobine Festival at Lawra. The Kobine Festival is celebrated annually at the end of the year's farming season to give thanks to God and the ancestors in anticipation of a bountiful harvest. Mr. Born said the recent drought and severe floods experienced in the area was as a result of increasing poor farming and environmental management practices and this called for quick action to curb future disasters. He said communities along the Black Volta have had several acres of their farms destroyed by floods, suggesting a gloomy situation in the area next year. Mr. Born appealed to the government to provide the Lawra Traditional Area with a Festival Village Complex to enable the people to preserve their cultural heritage for future generation. He commended the government for providing the area with social infrastructure, especially the upgrading of the Lawra Secondary School, school infrastructure and the on-going construction of the Lawra Market. He however urged the government to consider tarring the Nadowli/Babile/Lawra/Hamile road and Jirapa/Nandom road to enhance the economic activities in the area and that of Burkina Faso. Mr. Gordon Wononuo, Vice Chairman of the Lawra Area Youth and Development Association (LAYDA), appealed to the government to create new electoral areas for the Lawra Paramountcy to enhance effective administration as some of the electoral areas were very large for one assembly member to manage. He also called for the creation of a new constituency from the Lawra-Nandom constituency for the area to improve grassroots democracy. Source: GNA