The report that the listing of structures and landed properties for the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC) commenced yesterday and institionalisation of the Green Ghana project as an annual event are some of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Monday.
The Graphic reports that the listing of structures and landed properties for the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC) commenced yesterday.
The listing will pave the way for the enumeration, which starts at midnight of June 27.
According to Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), the first seven days of the field data collection for the census had been devoted to the listing of structures, which involves enumerators locating every structure in an enumeration area and assigning unique serial numbers to the structures and collecting some basic information on the structures and their occupants, if there are any.
During the listing, a serial number, preceded by 2021 PHC, is written in chalk on the external wall of every structure that will be listed.
An enumeration area is the smallest geographical area with a well-defined boundary and features that is assigned to an enumerator which can easily be canvassed and enumerated during the data collection period.
Each enumeration area has been assigned one primary enumerator, who is responsible for listing all structures and enumerating all households in his or her enumeration area.
The newspaper says that the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr. Samuel Abu Jinapor, has said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has directed that the Green Ghana project be institutionalised as an annual event to help conserve the environment.
The day, which will be commemorated on June 11, each year to coincide with the World Day of Forests, is to ensure that the over five million trees planted last Friday are properly nurtured into maturity.
Mr, Jinapor said in line with that, his ministry, in collaboration with the Forestry Commission (FC) and other stakeholders, would monitor the progress of the trees, particularly at the local level.
“The planting of these trees is just 20 per cent of the work done because the mechanisms and strategies that will result in the survival of the trees are 80 per cent. We would need to ensure that these trees survive,” he added.
The minister said this when he led staff of the ministry to plant trees around their office premises in Accra last Friday.
Other ministers and public officials and organisations also participated in the exercise, which formed part of efforts by the Lands Ministry and the FC to encourage the people to plant more trees to preserve and protect the country’s forest cover and the environment as part of activities to commemorate the International Day of Forest.
They included the Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful; the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum; the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Mrs. Cecilia Abena Dapaah, and the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Francis Asenso-Boakye.
While expressing satisfaction for what he described as “massive patronage” of the tree planting exercise, Mr. Jinapor said planting trees in itself was not enough to preserve the environment, for which reason conscious efforts must be made to nurture the trees, Timothy Ngnenbe reports.
The Graphic also reports that the Development Bank of Ghana (DBG), when established, should forge a closer collaboration with the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) to drive the agricultural sector.
The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who called for this, said the establishment of the development bank should be aimed at giving banks, such as the ADB, enough funds to grow the agricultural sector of the economy.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu made the call when the Board of Directors of the ADB and its management paid a courtesy call on him at the Manhyia Palace last Friday.
“I will be a key advocate for institutions such as the DBG and the African Development Bank to give loans to banks such as the ADB to enable it to give more loans to all within the agribusiness value chain,” he said.
According to him, agriculture remained the backbone of the Ghanaian economy, for which reason it must be given all the needed support.
The Asantehene commended the board and the management of the ADB for helping to make the bank profitable again and also refocusing on its core mandate of agricultural financing.
He urged the management to continue to support the agricultural sector to grow and create more jobs for the teeming unemployed youth.
Briefing the Asantehene, the Board Chairman of the ADB, Mr. Alex Bernasko, said since taking over, the new board had been trying to reposition the ADB as one of the profitable banks in the country.
GIK/APA