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Published on
20.12.24
IITA Forest Center received donor representatives of the AFR1OO reforestation project in Olokemeji on 14 October. The representatives, Eunice Adofo Boanya and Samuel Appiah Ofori, arrived to assess the project’s progress and provide support where necessary. And despite heavy rainfall on this day, the forest staff’s dedication and the donors’ determination made the day.
They were pleased to see the already growing trees as they learned of their economic importance and broader value for biodiversity conservation. They were inspired and impressed by the evident socio-economic impact this reforestation project was already making, hearing the story of Samuel Peters Taiwo, one of IITA Forest Center’s local staff at Olokemeji, who came in as a casual worker in 2022 and is now a staff. Taiwo saved money from his earnings to register as a forestry student at the Federal University of Agriculture (FUNAAB), Abeokuta. He is now training to be a certified forester. The Commissioner for Forestry Ogun State, Engineer Taiwo Oludotun, expressed the state’s support for the ongoing reforestation projects in Olokemeji and called for stakeholders to meet with the forest rangers, farmers, and herders to discuss and develop plans to protect the planted trees in the Olokemeji Forest Reserve.