Tropenbos promotes aggressive timber plantation dev’t

Tropenbos International Ghana (TBI), an NGO that provides forum for discussing forest issues, has launched a project to support the formation of a strong national tree growers’ association to strengthen private sector plantation development in the country.

The goal is to create a common platform for plantation developers and build their capacity to address the marketing, financial and logistical constraints affecting their operations.

Mr. Kwabena Nketi, the National Director, said stronger and more vibrant tree growers association would give impetus to reforestation – connect service providers, market and finance.

It would without doubt help to ensure the recognition of the significant contribution of the small-holder plantation developer to the supply of timber and other forest products.

He was speaking at a workshop held at Fumesua near Kumasi to explore ways to promote such an association.

Additionally, it sought to develop options for capacity building to improve the forest cover and fight rural poverty.

“Improving the contribution of tree growers’ associations to forest plantation development in Ghana”, was the theme for the workshop.

Mr. Nketiah identified the inability to manage plantations as viable economic activity, lack of funding and logistics as major barriers to plantation development in off-reserve areas.

These, he said, needed to be tackled to aid efforts at combating climate change, secure future supply of wood and fiber, job creation and economic empowerment.

He pointed out that it was simply not enough to place emphasis and encourage people to go into tree planting but that, the tree grower should be recognized in decision and policy making.

Mr. Hugh Brown, Director of Plantation, Forestry Commission (FC), described the contribution of the small-holder tree grower to timber production and the national economy as “quite significant”.

In year 2014 for example, close to two million cubic metres of timber was harvested from small-scale off-reserve plantations.

Mr Brown said the goal of the draft plantation development strategy was to achieve sustainable supply of planted forest products and services to deliver a range of economic, social and environmental benefits.

Ohyiawora Frimpong Mensah, Chief of Domeabra in the Asante-Akim North District, spoke of the need to streamline the land acquisition process to make it less cumbersome and helpful to the timber plantation effort.