Ghana: programme seeks to fill the timber supply and demand gapin the country

Tag : timber wood
The Government of Ghana is embarking on a number of policies, aimedat restructuring the timber industry, to make it the hub fortertiary processing of wood products in the sub-region, whilsteliminating illegal logging.
Among the policies embarked upon by the government include theintensification of its plantations development programme, throughthe implementation of the National Forest Plantation DevelopmentProgramme (NFPDP), aimed at securing the raw material base of thetimber industry.
This programme also seeks to fill the timber supply and demand gapin the country, while restoring degraded forest areas, in line withthe country's land policy.
Government is also aiming to embark on further domestic processingof plantation timber, to enable the country shift from thecommodity market in wood products, to that of value-addedprocessing industry.
The Minister for Lands, Forestry and Mines, Mrs. Esther ObengDapaah, made these known when she addressed a group of mediapractitioners in Accra, on the occasion of the launch of the firstTimber Industry Awards, with the theme, "100 years of forestry;projecting excellence in a complex and challenging industry."
According to her, government desirous of achieving its aim ofmaking the country the gateway to Africa was leaving no stoneunturned, in all sectors of the economy.
To this effect, she said, government had adopted a holisticapproach to natural resource management, through the NaturalResource Environmental and Governance (NREG) programme, tostrengthen natural resources, and environmental governance.
This, she said, would ensure that natural resources contribute togreater wealth and sustainable economic growth of the country.
The Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission of Ghana, ProfessorNii Ashie Kotey, observed that even though the performance of hisoutfit was marred by lots of challenges, it had over the years madesignificant gains, and has thus contributed its quota to thesocio-economic development of the country.