The MTS involves the establishment of forest plantations in degraded forest reserves by the Forest Services Division (FSD) in partnership with farmers from forest fringe communities. A distinctive feature of MTS is the defined roles and benefit sharing agreements between the Government, farmers, land owners and local communities. The farmers provide labour for site preparation, planting and plantation maintenance activities, while the FSD supervises and provides the required logistics including tree seedlings and pegs. The farmers are permitted to cultivate their food crops alongside the planted trees on the same piece of land for a period of three (3) years.
The MTS farmers, in addition to the food crops, have a 40% share in the Standing Tree Value (STV) of the planted trees. Reforestation Offset Project by Golden Star Limited Youth in Forest Plantation Enterprise Project (YFPEP) Forest Landscape Restoration Through a Sustainable Wood Energy Value Chain Project Creating Lands of Opportunity: Transforming Livelihoods through Landscape Restoration in the Sahel Project. The Government has a 40% share while the landowner and community have a 15% and 5% share respectively. The MTS accounted for 8,434.2 ha of forest plantations established in 2021. The breakdown of the MTS achievements is as follows:
- A total area of 8,259 ha established nationwide under the ‘traditional’ MTS approach involving partnership between FSD and the farmers;
- An area of 113.7 ha established in the Assin Fosu and Juaboso Forest Districts as part of the Ghana Cocoa Forest REDD+ Programme;
- An area of 61.5 ha established in Compartment 23 of the Ayum Forest Reserve in Goaso Forest District, Ahafo Region through partnership with FSD; Mondelez International/ UNDP under the Environmentally Sustainable Production Practices in Cocoa Landscapes Project (Phase 3); and farmers from the forest fringe communities.
