Project Team
T. Peprah

Background
Increased population pressure and the need for more land for agriculture, infrastructure and illegal felling of trees have led to Ghana experiencing rapid depletion of tree cover. The industrial trees that have greater export value are diminishing faster in our forests. Ghana’s forest policy provides for the sustainable management of Ghana’s forest resources. The Government has over the years encouraged community participation in afforestation programmes and private forestry. Many tree-planting programmes have been developed and are being promoted in Ghana. The focus is on a range of species including Terminalia ivorensis, Nauclea diderrichii, Ceiba pentandra,Cedrela odorata and Tectona grandis (Teak).

Teak is widely planted in the tropics and it is one of the important exotic species planted in large plantations in Ghana. A large proportion of plantations being established in the country are of Teak. There is the need to satisfy the stakeholder through sustainable supply of good quality seeds. A tree improvement programme must have seed production at some stage of its development if continuous gains are to be achieved. Some efforts, such as the establishment of Provenance Trials and clonal
seed orchards of Teak, have been made to provide good seed sources for plantation programmes over the years.

Objective
The objective is to assess performance of the individual clones or provenance in order to select good genotypes.