The Ekiti state government, through the Ekiti State Forestry Commission, has destroyed a 20-hectare Indian hemp plantation and nursery prepared for the transplanting of illegal weeds within the Ise Forest Reserves.
The Executive Secretary of the State Forestry Commission, Sunday Adekunle, in Ado-Ekiti, stated that the plantation was set on fire by officers of the commission in order to make the state forest reserves more productive and flush out men of the underworld from the reserves, in line with the agenda of the Commission.
He disclosed that the action followed a tip-off that some miscreants were engaging in nefarious activities in the government reserves along the Ise axis, adding that the commission is fully committed to combating illegalities in the state forest reserves while also actualizing its mandate of reducing the rate of deforestation.
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Adekunle pointed out 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 across forest reserves in the state.
The Executive Secretary thanked the state government for the recent recruitment of 22 new forest officers and 17 boundary guards by the Governor Biodun Oyebanji-led administration, saying that the recruitment exercise was now having the required multiplier effect in terms of improved security through regular patrols of the forest reserves.
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According to him, efforts were made to encourage local farmers to engage in farming activities on some lands within the forest reserves through agroforestry methods, particularly through the planting of tree seedlings being currently raised at the Commission’s Central Nursery at Erinfun in Ado-Ekiti.
