Caring for Ghana’s Forests

Samartex Timber and Plywood Co. Ltd is a wood processing company established in 1995 and located in Samreboi, Ghana’s Western Region. The company has over 2,000 direct employees and about 500 contract personnel (for outsourced services). Some of our products include: sliced veneer, plywood, rotary veneer, lumber, mouldings, carvings, honey and thaumatin.

Aside fulfilling requirements of the Social Responsibility

Agreement, as stipulated in the law(Act 547) to fringe communities, Samartex undertakes Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives and projects such as:

Healthcare: Samartex hospital’s medical care to surrounding communities; an average 3,500 private patients monthly, and free medical care for about 1,000 employees and their dependants monthly

Education and Training: 1. Fee-free tuition at Samartex School Complex 2. Free Apprenticeship Vocational Training Programme for graduates of Junior and Senior High School 3. Management Trainee Programme for fresh graduates from tertiary institutions, all as part of building the human resource capacity in the country.

Roads Construction and Maintenance: 500-kilometre-plus stretch of community and public roads maintained annually, across forest fringe communities.

Provision of Potable Drinking Water: Free potable water supply through our water treatment filtration plants, also boreholes have been installed in communities which are not within close proximity to our filtration plants.

Agro- forestry and Alternative Livelihood Schemes: Community sensitisation and education on sustainable agricultural practices and alternative livelihood schemes such as snail rearing, beekeeping and honey harvesting, as well as free seedlings distribution to farmers. Africa Outlook spoke to Richard Duah Nsenkyire, the Managing Director of Samartex, to find out more about this fascinating organisation and the forestry industry in Ghana.

Africa Outlook (AfO): Give us a brief insight into the Ghanaian forestry and wood processing industry. Why is it an exciting space to be working in?

Richard Nsenkyire (RN): The forestry and wood processing industry is regulated by the Ghana Forestry Commission, under the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources. The wood processing industry is driven by the private sector, which is categorized under: 1. Loggers 2. Secondary and Tertiary Processing Firms.

Presently, most of the companies have either completely closed down or partially operating. These challenges could be attributed to high utility bills, government policies and over regulation, lack of suitable raw material, bureaucracies etc.

However, the industry is very exciting and promising due to species and product diversity. Currently, there is more conscious effort (Private Public Partnership) geared towards plantations establishment and development, which was not the case in the past. Ghana’s climate and soil have an enormous potential which favour tree growing and natural regeneration.

AfO: How important is it to manage forests sustainably in Ghana?

RN: Undoubtedly the forest as a renewable natural resource and its products have multiple benefits and provide direct employment for over 200,000 people in Ghana, not forgetting the environmental benefits like protection of water bodies, wildlife, non-timber forest products, shelter etc.

AfO: What work is Samaratex doing to build plantations and forests in the country?

RN: Samartex is into private plantation of exotic and indigenous species of timber through the following:

Dikoto Community Agroforestry Project (DICAP): 120 hectares of exotic and indigenous species have been established with the community.

Tano Nimre Forest Reserve Plantation: Reforestation project of 1,152 hectares of degraded compartments allocated to Samartex by the Forestry Commission under Public Private Partnership (PPP).

Tain II Forest Reserve Plantation: Reforestation of degraded forest reserve, totaling 2,048 hectares. Another PPP project with the Ghana Forestry Commission.

Adeiso Plantation: private plantation located in the Eastern

Region of Ghana, 165 hectares of teak plantation.

Introduction of trees in various cocoa farms with over 500 farmers in our catchment area, as a tool in managing off-reserve forest lands.

AfO: How will such work support the national wood processing industry?

RN: Our plantation initiatives are in line with the general concept of “sustainability” and advocate for the need to increase resource base, since government policies, over the years, have laid more emphasis on regulation, rather than building a forest industry. Our initiative on off-reserve forest lands, is to promote sustainable agriculture, increase soil fertility and tree cover, as well as curbing shifting cultivation.

AfO: Are you optimistic about the future of the industry and what lies ahead?

RN: The industry will have a brighter future if government policies are directed towards increasing resource base on-reserve and off-reserve. There would also be the need for government to intensify the partnership with the private sector, with a conscious effort to establish large scale plantation and implement the tree tenureship policy for individual farmers to own trees that are cared for through natural regeneration, especially on farm and outside forest reserves.