SME sawmill operators kick against salvage permit directive

Small-medium size sawmill operators who do not have concessions and usually resort to acquire yield by means of salvage permits to feed their mills, are crying out to the Forestry Commission to take a second look at a new directive which is being operationalized in the district forestry offices.

According to the operators, as part of their application for the issuance of salvage permits, the Forestry Services Division (FSD) now require them to come along with a written approval from COCOBOD permitting them to remove trees on cocoa farms which the contractors have identified to salvage for timber.

They say, the Forestry Commission should review the directive of timber operators having to seek approval from COCOBOD for the removal of matured trees on cocoa farms for timber. The directive, the operators say, is impeding their work as the district COCOBOD offices they visit are not even aware of the directive and hence are unable to issue them the written consent or approval.

The SME Timber Operators are also of the view that the directive will not only make their work cumbersome, but will also increase their operational cost as the issuance of the said approval letter will come with cost. They lamented that the additional cost will lead to their products (legal wood) being priced out in the market by the illegal chainsaw lumber.

According to the operators, the Forestry Commission should be mindful of the fact that illegal chainsaw operators will not require such approval before removing the same trees they are competing for. They said, it’s just a matter of the illegal operators settling on a price for the tree with the farmer and all is set for the removal of the trees.

They proposed that the FC should come up with some direct benefit allocation for the farmer aside the usual SRA and royalties paid the entire community and the traditional authority of the area respectively.

The operators also called on the FC and civil society organizations in the sector to educate farmers and communities on timber right allocation as their ignorance results in their connivance with illegal chainsaw operators to remove all matured trees as soon as the farmers get wink of timber contractors showing interest in their area.

This concern recurred in all zonal training workshops on ‘FLEGT COMPLIANCE’ organized by the Nature and Development Foundation (NDF) for selected timber companies in the Bono, Ahafo, Western North, Ashanti, Eastern, Central and Western Regions of Ghana.

The training is part of implementing the project “Building Capacities of Small Medium Forest Enterprises (SMFEs) In Ghana and Liberia to Supply and Trade in Legal Timber-Phase II” which is receiving funding support from UK aid through their FGMC programme.

Another concern raised at the training was the seizure of consignments at the Kasoa and Nsawam checkpoints. The Research and Statistics Manager, TIDD, Takoradi who was also the resource person for the training, Mr. Samuel Mawuli Doe, advised the operators to desist from malpractices such as conniving with some FC officials to make an area qualify for harvesting when in reality the area does not, felling outside allocated yield, swapping of allocated tree species, buying and processing illegal logs, poor record keeping among others.

Mr. Doe explained that the FC has now computerized everything including the position of the trees in the forests, hence, the slightest illegality or mismatch will be flagged by the system. He said, “The Wood Tracking System has come to stay and advised the timber operators to sanitize their processes so as to ensure their smooth and continual operations in the sector”.