Woodworkers call for ban on timber exports

Woodworkers in the country have called for a ban on the export of timber and timber-related products in the wake of severe shortage of the commodity to sustain their operations.

“There is no need to continue exporting timber when there is increasing demand on the local market. The future of the timber industry is very bleak for local actors whose activities revolve around the processing of logs and lumber to feed big infrastructural enhancement projects and for domestic use,” Isaac Avor, Secretary to the Timber Markets Association, told the B&FT.

According to Mr. Avor, there is the need for government to consider halting the exportation of timber so as to retain the “little timber in the system” for the local market.

He added: “The killing of the forest resources has led to the low supply of timber for processing and that could stifle productivity in the sector and lead to job losses.”

A visit to some wood processing and merchandising hotspots in the country, specifically Agbogbloshie and Ofankor in Accra; and the Sokoban Wood Village in Kumasi, showed disturbing scenes of near empty sheds as shop owners and workers idle about.

Kwame Poku, who owns a shed at the Timber Market in Accra, told the B&FT: “There is a shortage in getting timber to supply to the market and that is slowing our business.”

The field visit to selected timber markets and the tour of the Tano Offin Forest Reserve in the Ashanti Region was organised by the Nature and Development Foundation (NDF), with support from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The B&FT gathered that even though saw millers are required by regulations to allocate 40 percent of processed lumber to local industry actors in the timber processing and marketing business, the focus has been on the export market.

The practice has created the situation whereby the ability of local woodworkers to meet the demand of the local market is cast in doubt, putting thousands of jobs created by the sector on the line.

The dire state of the timber business

The timber industry is on the verge of collapse owing to the country’s fast declining forest cover, which has dropped from 8.2 million hectares about a century ago to about 1.6 million currently.

Data from the Forestry Commission says about 65,000 hectares of forests are degraded every year and it’s been getting worse over the years, with popular species such as Odum, Mahogany and Sapele near extinction.

And the absence of a sustainable plan to guard against the threats of illegal logging and rampant bushfires is now having a toll on businesses that depend on the forest.

Aside the high forest recession, another factor for the slowing timber industry is the allegation of rampant harassment and extortions at border points which is dissuading timber operators from sourcing for the commodity.

Mr. Opoku shared his experience: “The Forestry Taskforce worry us a lot and we end up having to lose so much money through extortions; we buy lumber from sawmills in the form of logs, but when there is any slight disparity, it is assumed to come from chainsaw operations.

Another trader, Amadu Osman, made an indication of instances whereby forestry officials at the various checkpoints seize woods on suspicious grounds, stock the woods in their custody and later sell it back to local timber traders.

He added: “We currently find ourselves in a situation where the good logs are pushed for exports even though there is local demand for quality wood.

As local timber traders, we are processing woods for the domestic market and so we want the police officers and forestry officials to stop harassing us at the various checkpoints as it is affecting the productivity of businesses and the industry as a whole.”