China trains Ghanaians in bamboo, rattan processing

The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has appealed to the Chinese Government to assist Ghana to establish a bamboo and rattan processing and demonstration centre at Ayi Mensah in the Greater Accra Region.

This is to ensure skills training of local artisans as well as serve as investment in the bamboo and rattan industry.

The Deputy Minister, Mr Benito Owusu Bio, who made the appeal, said the project was one of Ghana’s priority grant-funded initiatives which must be treated as a critical intervention to serve as a vehicle for job creation to improve on rural economies across the country.

He was speaking at the skills training workshop on bamboo and rattan products development technology organised for some 90 Ghanaian artisans by the Chinese Embassy at Akyawkrom in the Ejisu Municipality of the Ashanti Region.

Mr Owusu Bio said due to the enormous socio economic and environmental benefits of bamboo, “global attention is gradually increasing and many countries are beginning to exploit these resources.

He said Ghana was also determined to develop the bamboo and rattan industry to create a sustainable employment for the rural youth.

The deputy minister said bamboo and rattan resources constituted the two largest non-timber forest products of Ghana and had been identified to be the most suitable complement to timber usage for the building and construction industry, pulpwood, flooring, panel products and furniture.

He, therefore, urged the participants to give the programme their full concentration to ensure that they got the maximum out of their two weeks stay at the training centre.

Mr Owusu Bio said the participants would serve as master craftsmen for the centre at Ayi Mensah and in turn build the capacity of the local artisans in that sector.

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Simon Osei Mensah, noted that the region was well-endowed with bamboo and rattan which had many good uses, especially for the conservation of soil apart from their importance in furniture and construction.

Rationale for training

The Commercial and Economic Counsellor of the China Embassy in Ghana, Mr Chai Zhi Jing, explained that the training programme was part of the technology transfer from the people of China to Ghana in the greater governmental overseas support agenda.

This was the second training being organised by the Chinese government for Ghanaian artisans.

The first training, which took place last year, saw 100 artisans drawn from all the regions in the country taking part in the training.

This would bring the total number of trained artisans in bamboo and rattan in the country to 190.