Ekiti State Forestry Commission has said it is fully committed to actualizing its mandate of reducing the rate of deforestation in the State and combatting illegalities in the state forest reserves.
The Executive Secretary of the State Forestry Commission, Mr Sunday Adekunle, who gave the assurance during a meeting in Ado-Ekiti, said making its forest reserves more productive and flushing out men of the underworld from the reserves across the State were high on the agenda of the commission.
He disclosed that following a tip-off that some miscreants were engaging in nefarious activities in the government reserves along the Ise axis, a 20-hectare Indian hemp plantation within the Ise Forest Reserves was spotted, destroyed and set on fire recently by officers and men of the Forestry Task Force of the Commission.
Adekunle said the plantation and nursery prepared for transplanting of the illegal weeds were destroyed in the operation, stressing that the recent recruitment of 22 new forest officers and 17 boundary guards by the Governor Biodun Oyebanji administration was having the required multiplier effect in terms of improved security through regular patrols of the forest reserves by the boundary guards and other officials of the Commission.
He disclosed that efforts were on to encourage local farmers who would engage in farming activities on some lands within the forest reserves through agroforestry methods, particularly through planting of tree seedlings being currently raised at the Commission’s Central Nursery at Erinfun in Ado-Ekiti.
The Executive Secretary disclosed that the commission would continue to embark on public education and sensitization on key areas such as tree planting, wildlife, fire control and other matters in its bid to boost forest conservation and afforestation efforts in the State.
