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 for skills training of local artisans.
The project is 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.
A Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Benito Owusu-Bio, made the appeal at Akyawkrom in the Ejisu Municipality of Ashanti.
He was opening a training course on Bamboo and Rattan Products Development Technology for Ghanaian Artisans.
Ninety artisans in bamboo and rattan products development from across the country are participating in the course. They will be trained in two batches of two weeks each and will graduate as Master Craftsmen in their localities.
This is the 2nd batch of the training programme following the success story of a similar programme last year for 100 others.
The training is jointly organised by the Chinese and Ghanaian governments with Chinese experts as the resource persons.
The President of the National Bamboo and Rattan Association, Stephen Osafo-Owusu, expressed concern about the low patronage of bamboo and rattan products in the country.
The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, noted that the Ashanti region is well endowed with bamboo and rattan which have many good uses especially for the conservation of soil, aside from their importance in furniture making and construction.
The Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources noted that bamboo and rattan resources constitute the two largest non-timber forest products of Ghana and have been identified to be the most suitable complement to timber usage for the building and construction industry as well as pulpwood, flooring, panel products and furniture.
The Commercial and Economic Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Ghana, Chai Zhi Jing, explained that the training course is part of the technology transfer programme of the people of China to Ghana.
