Vice-President Aliu Mahama meets Chinese bamboo experts

Chinese experts in bamboo cultivation and utilisation are in Ghana to assist the Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines to adopt the technology.

Professor Zhu Zhaohua of the Chinese Academy of Forestry and International Network for Bamboo and Rattan who led a four-member delegation to brief Vice-President Aliu Mahama on the industry said the cultivation and use of bamboo dates back to 6,000 years and has over 5,000 registered products exported mainly to Japan, North America and Europe.

Bamboo production, which has increased employment opportunities for about five million rural farmers in China, can be used as food, apparel, panelling, handicrafts, industrial works and medicine without any adverse effect on the environment.

Professor Zhaohua, whose visit is a follow up to a workshop the Chinese network organised for Ghanaian scientists and entrepreneurs in China last November, expressed the hope that the two countries would cooperate to boost the growth of the industry.

Alhaji Mahama said large-scale processing and utilisation of bamboo would complement efforts by Ghana to upgrade the forestry industry, promote re-forestation and create jobs.

He called on the Network to support their Ghanaian counterparts to initiate the project as soon as possible and add value to their products.

Dr Kwaku Afriyie, Minister of Lands, Forestry and Mines said bamboo production would be incorporated into the National Reforestation Programme since it has a short gestation of five years and can check land degradation. It can be used as a substitute for timber products by 60 per cent.

Dr Andrew Oteng Amoako, Deputy Director of the Forest Research Institute, said research into the four bamboo species in Ghana shows that they can be cultivated between three and five years on a large scale to make up for the three million cubic metres of timber required annually for industrial use.