Skill Development and Training On the Use of Logging Residues and Discarded Oil Palm Trunk as Raw Material for the Downstream Wood Processing Sector

In Ghana, majority of the rural folk depend on chain sawing activities for livelihood. Chain sawing is, however, characterized by degradation of the forest and therefore the government has put a ban on the production of lumber through chain sawing. This action has really affected the livelihood of people living along the fringes of the forest since they depend mostly on chain sawing activities to take care of their families. The ban on chain sawing activities by the government has led to migration of some of the youth from the rural areas to the urban areas to search for jobs which do not exist. Some of the youth get frustrated because of the lack of jobs in the urban areas and resort to some form of social vices. The youth in the rural areas could be gainfully employed if they are assisted to convert into lumber, and in an efficient manner, the large volumes of logging residues that are left in the forest in the form of branches, buttresses and stumps. Another area that is worth mentioning and needs to be addressed urgently to help halt the degradation of the forest is the large volume of oil palm trunks that are left in the forest to rot after tapping the wine in the trees. Thus, enormous quantities of palm trees are discarded in vain, while destruction of the rain forest has been expanding in the same tropical areas by excess cutting of trees. People living along the fringes of the forest could also be gainfully employed if they are assisted to convert the oil palm trunks into lumber using appropriate processing technology. Skill development and training on the use of logging residues and discarded oil palm trunk as raw material for the downstream wood processing sector is a promising venture to promote Technical and Vocational Education and Training 1