Artisanal Millers face challenges

Artisanal Millers face challenges

Ghana - 15 December, 2014

Investment costs for purchasing legal logs, irregular supply from concession holders and competition from illegal chainsaw milling activities are the three major challenges confronting artisanal millers piloting the artisanal milling concept in the Akrodie and Sankore communities of the Goaso Forest District.

Consequently, artisanal millers from Sankore and Akrodie have appealed for the intervention of the Project Advisory Committee (PAC) of the EU-sponsored Chainsaw Milling (CSM) Project in finding lasting solutions to these challenges.

The appeal was made when members of the PAC visited the two pilot sites to familiarise themselves with on-going pilot activities in order to help the project devise better options for smooth piloting of the artisanal milling concept. In response to the appeal, the PAC advised the project to link the artisanal millers to more concession holders to increase the supply of timber resources to the millers.

They also asked the project to build the capacity of the artisanal milling associations and support them in registering a logging entity with property mark so that they can apply for timber utilization permits to gain access to timber resources particularly those in off-reserves.

The PAC also announced that the FC is presently advocating for complete yield removal by concessionaries. A step that would force concessionaires to sell tree species that are not covered in their contracts. This would ultimately lead to an increase in the amount of logs available to artisanal millers.

On the prevalence of illegal chainsaw activities, the PAC called on the Goaso Forest Service Division to support the artisanal millers by clamping down on illegal chainsaw milling and encouraged the artisanal millers to continue with their activities in spite of the challenges since it is the best option to supply the domestic market with legal lumber.