Ghana received a total of 184 million Euros from the export of wood products in 2005. The amount represents the total volume of 466,155 cubic metric of wood products exported.

Mr. Douglas Asomani, Corporate Planning Officer of the Forestry Commission (FC), announced this at the first graduation of 40 apprentices trained by members of the Woodworkers Association of Ghana (WAG) and the Wood Industries Training Centre (WITC) at Akyawkrom in the Ejisu-Juaben District on Tuesday.

He said tertiary wood products accounted for 23.371 million Euros, while secondary products fetched 160.639 million Euros.

Mr Asomani said government recognised the importance of forest and wildlife resources to the well-being of Ghanaians and would continue to initiate measures to reduce waste in the sector.

He announced that the FC was negotiating with the Ghana Education Service to enable members of WAG manufacture and supply school furniture as a way of reducing poverty.

Mr Kwamina Hazel of the Timber Industry Development Division (TIDD) of the FC said the WITC was set up to offer skills training to stakeholders in the timber industry to help reduce waste and add value to timber products.

He said TIDD was expanding the wood industry through research to add more species to the existing ones used for timber adding that, the TIDD would continue to assist the industry to explore the uses of lesser known species.

Mr. Prince Brenya Bonsu, National President of WAG, complained about the refusal of the timber milling companies to comply with the legislative instrument that compelled them to supply 20 percent of the products to the local market and appealed to the government to enforce the law to ensure regular availability of timber products on the local market.

He said the aim of the training programme for the apprentices was to reduce waste and create employment for the youth. Togbe Fugah, immediate past President of WAG, appealed to members of the association to employ modern technology in their operations.

He said the marriage of modern technology and experience was the surest way for them to produce quality products and stay in business.