Timber industry cries for attention
With timber resources dwindling in forest areas, including the Ashanti Region, the signs are now clear that many timber companies could collapse 10 years from now if plantations are not developed to make up for the shortfalls.
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Both the Forestry Commission, the state agency mandated to manage the industry, and the Ghana Timber Millers Organisation (GTMO), the umbrella organisation of the timber companies, believe the future could be bad unless they worked hard to change the current situation.
In the past the Forestry Commission (FC) had undertaken some public-private initiatives on plantations but these were not successful.
Over the years, the nation has had to rely on the natural forests and with the fast rate at which the resources are dwindling, many of the companies have already collapsed while others stand the risk of following suit unless proactive measures are adopted to address them.
Job loss
According to the GTMO, over the last 20 years, about 60 per cent of timber companies have collapsed because they have no access to the raw material, timber.
Once a major source of employment in some regions of the country, notably Ashanti, Western, Eastern and Brong Ahafo, the companies have laid off a good number of their workers because of the challenges they faced.
GTMO records estimate that about 200,000 jobs have been lost in the timber industry in the last decade.
Today, the hitherto booming timber industry in the Ashanti Region for instance, is no more. Just a few of the companies are operating, and under strenuous conditions.
The Chief Executive of the GTMO, Dr Kwame Asamoah Adam, has warned that “the situation is not the best and we have to wake up to the realities.”
Mr Andy Osei-Okrah, the Director of Human Resource at the Forestry Commission, also told the Daily Graphic that the situation was not good, although he said interventions being made by the commission had brought some level of hope that “all is not lost.”
The GTMO has suggested that the Forestry Commission should devise new strategies to address the challenges.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in Kumasi, Dr Adam said it was clear that the timber companies on their own would not be able to set up large scale afforestation projects.
This is, he explained,was because afforestation projects were long-term projects that were very expensive to undertake.
The irony of the situation is that the banks are not ready to invest in such projects because of the high risks associated with them.
Besides, he argued that the responsibility of growing trees should be that of the Forestry Commission and not timber companies.
“Can you ask a chocolate factory to go into cocoa production because there is a shortfall in the production of cocoa beans?” he asked.
Coupled with other challenges in the timber industry, many of the timber companies have collapsed within the last decade and the future does not look better.
Dr Adam refused suggestions in certain circles that timber companies were their own enemies, having for many years relied on the natural forests for their raw materials and failing to heed the government’s promptings to the timber companies to invest in afforestation to save the industry from collapse.
Nonetheless, today some Ghanaian timber companies import timber logs to feed their factories.
Besides, the Forestry Commission was also working on plans to import timber logs from some African countries to support the local industry.
Dr Adam predicted that very few timber companies could survive by the next decade if nothing was done about the situation now.
“We are entering a crisis situation and if it continues like we are seeing, it will not be a surprise that the once vibrant timber industry will collapse in the not too distant future,” Dr Adam said.
Challenges
Apart from the challenges faced at home, the downward trend had also been influenced by global developments.
For instance, Dr Adam said, the bulk of Ghana’s major buyers in Europe had cut down on demand due to factors including economic challenges in their countries.
This has affected Ghana’s inflows from timber products. Giving figures, the GTMO Chief Executive said last year Ghana realised about $150 million from timber as against the previous average annual inflow of $200 million.
In 2001, the National Forest Plantation Programme was launched by the government to help restock the lost forest.
With funds from the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative and other sources, the government sought to whip up interest of the private sector in plantation development.
Timber companies were tasked to replace every tree they cut by planting another. That meant the companies were to invest in plantation programmes but this did not achieve the expected results.
When the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration under Prof J.E.A. Mills took over the reins of government in 2008, the national plantation programme was relaunched. Again the programme involved the private sector with two companies, ZOIL and ECotech, as the main entities in the forefront of planting while the Eco-Brigade supplied seedlings.
About 20,000 hectares of plantation was planted, creating some 36,000 jobs in the country. However, the project run into difficulties as the private sector financing was not forthcoming.
New efforts
Today, the Forestry Commission under a new programme has taken over the national plantation programme, pledging to reverse the trend and ensure a better future for the industry.
Mr Osei-Okrah said the commission had drawn up a 25-year strategic development plan for plantation development and was hopeful that the plan would achieve the expected outcome.
The commission has also engaged people to plant and nurture the trees to maturity.
In the interim, the Forestry Commission is implementing its plan to import timber as a short term measure to save the industry from collapse.
By Kwame Asare Boadu/Ghana