Timber Industry Dev't Division holds forum

Accra, Aug. 28, GNA - Professor Dominic Fobih, Minister of Lands and Forestry, on Thursday expressed the need to stop the activities of chainsaw operators because they put intense pressure on the forest. He said if the situation is not checked, it could result in the loss of the raw material base of the timber industry and the eventual collapse of the industry.

He Prof. Fobih, who was speaking at a day's forum on the timber industry, said illegal chain-sawn products currently dominate the domestic timber market because timber millers are unwilling to sell on the local market and export virtually all their product for foreign currency.

The forum was organized by the Timber Industry Development Division (TIDD) of the Forestry Commission for stakeholders in the timber industry to increase level of awareness on domestic policies on timber and create the awareness on selected Lesser Used Species (LUS). The forum on the theme: "Sourcing Timber for Building and Construction in Ghana - Perspectives of Timber Sellers, Buyers and Government" forms part of the on-going International Building Exhibition.

The Minister pledged that government would enforce the directive that required saw millers to put at least 20 per cent of their lumber production on the domestic market.

He suggested the development of legitimate means of trade for the domestic timber market to enhance the export market to enable the country to maximize its returns from timber exports.

Prof. Fobih stressed the need to highlight the promotion and utilization of the non-traditional species, considering the fact that they were becoming increasingly difficult to get. He said much as the Government accepted responsibility in facilitating the development of a vibrant and productive private sector, there was the need for the private sector to share the responsibility with the government.

"The government, therefore, requires the co-operation of the private sector when stiffer measures have to be put in place in order to save the timber industry," he said.

Mr A.S.K. Boachie-Dapaah, Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission, in a speech read for him, said the Commission was working hard to ensure that the remaining timber resources were prudently and judiciously utilised while it engaged in re-vegetating the degraded forest for posterity.

Mr Henry G. Coleman, Trade and Industry Manager of TIDD, said sourcing sawn timber on the domestic market had become a great challenge for policy makers, timber sellers, buyers and end-users because of the existing outstripping demand over supply of sawn timber.

He said the domestic trade in sawn mill limber was not properly structured as a result of several reasons including the availability of cheap chain-sawn lumber and over concentration of many saw millers/producers on the export market to the detriment of the domestic market. 28 Aug. 03