Wood carvers at Ahwiaa in the Kwabre East Municipality of the Ashanti Region are appealing to the Municipal Assembly and the Forestry Commission to provide them with lands to plant trees to sustain their industry.
According to them, survival and growth of the wood carving and artifact industry heavily depends on the availability of wood which serves as raw material. The wood carvers made the appeal through GBC when our correspondent visited the town to learn more about the current state of the industry.
The industry contributed substantially to Ghana’s foreign exchange earnings through export of artifacts and other wood products. The business is however not as brisk as it used to be.
The Chairman of the Ahwiaa Wood Carvers Association, Akwasi Asante, blamed the dwindling fortunes of the industry on inadequate sources of raw materials as a result of deforestation and high cost of postal services through which orders were previously sent to customers abroad.
Mr. Asante noted, that despite efforts at getting the Forestry Commission to allot lands to the Wood Carvers to plant their preferred tree species, no response has been received. He appealed to the Kwabre East Municipal Assembly to upgrade the road that leads to the Wood Carving Centre.
