The Ghana Federation of Forest and Farm Producers is advocating for government support to farmers in the restoration of degraded forests in the country.

This comes on the back of efforts by the farmers to grow trees on their farms as part of the restoration of forests.

General Secretary of the Ghana Federation of Forest and Farm Facility, Maxwell Kpetaa, explains that though some efforts are being made by farmers with the aid of some Non-Governmental Organizations, government support will boost their intervention.

"This is an advocacy platform, and we meet all involved. Government and the general public will have to join us in this advocacy to restore the vegetative cover," he said.

He spoke on the sidelines of a National Dialogue organised by the federation in Kumasi with support from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) through its Forest and Farm Facility Programme.

The federation has 157,576 farmers dotted across three ecological zones of the country, namely: the savannah, transition, and forest zones.

These farmers are supported in capacity building, financial and agricultural training to enhance their knowledge in forest restoration and economic well-being.

Though the farmers within the federation are making efforts to restore some degraded lands, the harm that continues to be caused is overwhelming.

"The negative impact is more than our efforts; we can easily destroy, but making it is difficult," he said.

Illegal mining is one of the factors that has caused major damage to the country's forest reserves.

Mr Kpetaa believes it is about time adequate measures are adopted to formalise and contain illegal mining.

"If we have a regulated mining sector, small-scale mining could be done as our forests are reserved," he emphasised.

The dialogue brought together representatives of farmers from 28 organisations to share ideas on the restoration of forests in the country.

This year's event was themed: "Reclaiming our degraded lands."

The event had stakeholders discussing ideas to push the restoration of degraded lands.

Farmers' role in restoring degraded forest

Farmers involved in the restoration of the degraded lands for about five years are taking an active role in the restoration of the forests.

A government regulation that has given ownership of trees on farms to farmers has motivated them to plant more trees.

Emmanuel Komla Torsu, a farmer at Asante Akyem Obogu, is among the farmers who have taken up the tree-planting exercise.

Mr Torsu added that owning the trees has empowered them to plant more trees.