Global Shea Alliance (GSA) in collaboration with the Forestry Commission and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has begun planting the first set of 1,000 grafted shea seedlings in the Savannah Ecological Zone (SEZ) giving the shea sector a major boost.
The grafted seedlings, the first of their kind to be planted in the history of the country, have a short gestation period of about five to seven years, unlike the conventional shea trees which take about 20 years to mature and bear fruits.
On average, a shea tree takes 15 to 20 years to mature and bear fruits in the wild. However, the grafted shea seedlings which were developed by the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG), are more climate-resilient, disease and pest-resistant and have the potential to bear more fruits.
The 1,000 seedlings being planted by the GSA and its partners formed part of the Shea Landscape Emission Reductions Project (GSLERP) which seeks to mitigate the effects of climate change within the fragile ecosystem of the Northern Savannah Landscapes and to improve the shea value chain through four key components.
The components are the restoration of off-reserve, degraded savannah forests under self-financing community management in Community Resource Management Area (CREMA), restoration of degraded shea parklands through public-private partnerships, establishment of Modified Taungya System plantations and fire management in forest reserves and implementation of integrated monitoring system and strengthening of REDD+ systems.
A key feature of the project is the planting of 3.5 million grafted shea seedlings to restore degraded shea parklands.
Funded by Climate Fund, the seven-year project also seeks to plant native tree species, including Dawadawa, Baobab, and Mahogany across the beneficiary areas.
Under the project, women in the various beneficiary communities are currently engaged in the management of the nurseries.
Aside from restoring the fragile ecosystem and tackling climate change, the initiative would also promote investments in the shea value chain and empower rural women where more than 500,000 people are expected to benefit from the intervention.
 and partners has begun planting the first set of 1,000 grafted shea seedlings in the Savannah Ecological Zone (SEZ) giving the shea sector a major boost.){kind=link}