Kumbungu (Ghana) loses its trees

Kumbungu is a rural town North of Tamale Metropolitan Area in Ghana. Here we are on the tree savannah that covers all of Northern Ghana – or rather used to cover that vast area. One might expect all kinds of trees on this land,such as the Baobab Tree, the Dawadawa Tree, the Mango Tree, the Neem Tree and the Shea Tree, up to 123 trees a hectare (50 trees on an international standard acre). The ground is covered with herbs, weeds andgrasses, reaching up to two meters for speargrass. Elephant grass may even grow three meters tall.

Natural tree savannah

In a large area between Kumbungu and Savelugu, however, a vast stretch ofland from Tamale up North over dozens of kilometers, trees can hardly befound. The Baobab Trees, Dawadawa Trees and Shea Trees have disappeared(it was only discovered later that the shea nut can be used to make sheabutter, soaps and creams). The Neem Tree, that has all kinds of medical andagrarian applications, has become scarce. The only tree that has survived innumbers, is the Mango Tree, since its fruits taste delicious. The result is anempty grass plain looking like the treeless savannah much further to theNorth.

Cutting trees for charcoal is the main cause of this demolition. On the shortrun the trees yield more money if they are cut and burned by charcoalburners. Both in the villages and in the cities, charcoal is by far the mostused means to cook in households and small restaurants. The 500,000 inhabitants of Tamale are eager buyers.

Kumbungu treeless woodland savannah

On the long run, however, this indiscriminate cutting of trees is fatal. Theshade of the trees vanishes from the landscape and so does their capacity tokeep moisture in the dry season. The roots of the trees are missing and thewind gets freedom to blow away fertile soil. The Harmattan, a wind that blows mainly in December, carries infertile sand from the Sahara to make thesoil infertile. If we don’t do anything about it, we will soon watch the desertextend itself to the North of Ghana.

Unnatural savannah landscape

Barbarugo perceives bamboo as the solution to stop this desertification.Bamboo has deep-digging roots, offers plenty shadow and blocks the wind.Moreover, a bamboo “tree” (it is rather a giant grass than a tree) is never cutas a whole, but offers its culms for harvesting. These culms are big like sticksand can be used in countless industrial applications.

Barbarugo now has a bamboo plantation in this treeless part of the treesavannah, but we want more plantations. This is why we beg to support uswith money and enable us to expand this plantation and create more plantations

Bamboo in Suamire