Ghana government to enhance value added component of timber exports

Jul 01, 2009. /Lesprom Network/. Average export revenue from the timber sector over the last five years has been put at 212 million dollars with the bulk of the amount coming from secondary wood products, as reported by Ghana Broadcasting Corporation. This accounts for about four percent of GDP and 11 percent of export earnings. To increase the industry’s contribution to national revenue, government plans to enhance the value added component of timber exports. Emphasis will therefore be placed on skills development, technology transfer and product development. The Minister of Lands and natural Resources, Alhaji Collins Dauda, made this known in Kumasi at a seminar on the state of the wood industry. He said studies have shown that the installed capacity of the wood industry is estimated at four-point-seven million cubic metres, but the Annual Allowable Cut is only two million cubic metres. Alhaji Dauda said this implies that if the wood industry is to operate at full capacity, then as much as two-point-seven million cubic metres of wood would be coming from an illegal source. His Ministry will therefore adopt a massive public and private plantation Development and Afforestation Programme to guarantee the future wood supply base of the industry. The Ministry will also streamline the allocation of Timber Utilization Contracts to bring fairness and transparency into the allocation process.