Accra, April 24, GNA - Government has embarked on forest plantation development, including development of the bamboo and rattan industry, to reduce the pressure on natural forest and slow the process of deforestation. The bamboo and rattan development programme (BARADEP), has been adopted as a national policy to complement the President's Initiative on Forest Plantation with a secretariat to coordinate issues on bamboo and rattan development, processing and marketing.

Mr Andrew Adjei Yeboah, deputy Minister of Lands, Forestry and Mines, announced this at a two-day workshop on bamboo for 15 furniture manufacturers and woodworkers from the Greater Accra Region.

The workshop organised by the Ministry with support from the Accra Technical Training Centre and the Pioneer Bamboo Processing Company Limited, is expected to expose manufacturers to the general uses of bamboo through production of various furniture and other office and household equipment. Mr Adjei Yeboah noted that deforestation had been identified as a major global problem, saying, its impact on environment, sustainable development and poverty alleviation was immense.

He said government had taken prudent steps to promote bamboo and rattan plantation and industry development to help reduce the pressure on timber and also create employment for rural and urban poor.

"Utilizing bamboo will therefore reduce the pressure on the existing forest and thereby shift the focus from timber species, most of which are now threatened. This will help to conserve the existing forest for posterity." Mr Adjei Yeboah said the development of bamboo and rattan in the growth of national economies could not be overemphasized adding that China had used bamboo in several ways to generate income for local dwellers.

"Export of bamboo products for instance has generated millions of dollars in foreign exchange for China. Ghana has the potential to do same in our own small way," he said.

Mr Anderson A. Mensah, Director of Pioneer Bamboo Company, noted that bamboo had the potential to create jobs for the youth and encouraged them to venture into the sector.

He said bamboo products were of higher quality and more durable than normal wood, and could be used for many household and office equipment. Mr Theophilus Opare Anoh, Principal of Accra Technical College (ATTC), said experiences showed that the industry was a lucrative one and urged participants to give of their best to ensure productive sessions.

He called for an in-house training for students of the wood department of the college as way of creating awareness and interest in the area. Bamboo grows fast and can mature in five years as compared to timber species some of which can take more than a century to mature. Bamboo therefore becomes a very good substitute for timber.