By Bisola Adeyemo
An environmentalist, Mr Gafar Odubote, has called for the need to enforce laws on illegal tree felling and enforce policies on continuous tree planting in the country.
Odubote, the regional manager of “Let’s Do it Africa”, a non-profit organisation with bias for environmental issues, made the call in an interview on Monday, in Lagos.
According to him, Environews reported that if afforestation activities are not carried out in earnest, the growing desert encroachment on farm lands may affect food security in the country.
“It is quite necessary that, at this point, we need to encourage afforestation because a proportion of our agricultural land has been degraded as a result of desertification.
“If we do not embark on afforestation activities with commitment, this degradation of our farmable land will affect food security in the near future.
“We are losing most of our farmlands, especially in the northern region of the country, to desertification; most farmers can no longer cultivate crops because of this.
“To be able to get result-oriented afforestation, we need to get accurate data on desert encroachment in the country so as to plant commensurate numbers of trees and greenery to fight back.
“How well we are able to capture data on deforestation and desert encroachment will determine how we are able to address the situation.
“Let us know the number of trees that we need to plant, the expanse of farmable lands that have been degraded by desertification.
“These data will give us the first step in understanding the situation we are in,” the environmentalist said.
