Asanteman queenmothers trained in bamboo, rattan usage

The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has in collaboration with the Forest Plantation Development Fund organised a two-day capacity-building workshop in bamboo and rattan for queenmothers from Asanteman.

The objective is to get the traditional leaders engaged in the bamboo and rattan industry so it serves as a job creation avenue for them and offers them an alternative to timber.

Addressing the queenmothers, the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources in charge of Forest, Benito Owusu-Bio, said there were lots of business opportunities in the bamboo and rattan industry, particularly bamboo, which he said was fast replacing timber as wood products.

He said more than 1,000 wood products could be obtained from bamboo and encouraged the queenmothers to embrace the programme.

Mr Owusu-Bio said aside from serving as an alternative for wood, bamboo could also be used to reclaim some of the lands that had been destroyed by illegal mining and it could also protect the environment.

He said the plantation would be piloted in the Ashanti Region and when it was successful, extended to other regions, where the queenmothers would be supported to also establish bamboo and rattan plantations.

For the pilot, he said the fund would support the queenmothers to plant 10 acres of bamboo.

Mr Owusu-Bio said some of the products that could be obtained from bamboo included furniture, plywood, toilet rolls, toothpick, sanitary pad, bags, charcoal, utensils and for construction works.

He said there was a huge potential for bamboo and rattan in the country, adding that if successful, it would reduce the pressure on forest resources in the country and preserve the little forest cover left.

Support

The Mamponghemaa, Nana Agyakoma Difie II, who chaired the function, was grateful to the government for involving them in the bamboo and rattan project and on behalf of the queenmothers of Asanteman, pledged their full support for the successful implementation of the project.

She said from the little presentation made on the uses of bamboo, they had realised its importance and would as such lend their support to the project to create jobs for their people and also save the environment from destruction.

Giving the rationale of the project, the Technical Director of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Joseph Osiakwan, said over the years, queenmothers had been sidelined in all activities of the ministry, particularly those on the promotion of bamboo and rattan.

However, he said for any programme to be successful, there was the need to involve women.

The programme was, therefore, designed to train and equip the queenmothers with the necessary skills in bamboo and rattan plantation to enable them to lead the programme in their various communities.

The participants were drawn from the Asanteman traditional areas in the Bono, Bono East, Ahafo and Ashanti regions.