| Since the mid 1990s Ghana's forestry sector has been going through reforms geared towards achieving the ITTO Year 2000 Objective for sustainable forest management and forest product trade. The reforms were partly introduced through legal approaches and also through activities under a long-term Forestry Sector Development Master Plan. The legal approaches mainly dealt with strengthening of sector institutions to effectively carry out forest concession administration and management, stumpage fee increases and more punitive actions against forest offences. Reforms with more direct impact on forest product export trade came through the implementation of the Forestry Sector Development Master Plan---reduction in annual allowable cut (AAC), introduction of air-dry levy, and promotion of value-addition and lesser-used species (LUS). These actions have infuriated the forest product industry blaming the government for a collapsing industry as a result of the interventions.; This study evaluated the impacts of the interventions believed to be directly affecting the forest product export trade and perceptions of marketing implications. The study concluded that: (1) The drop in raw material level has influenced increasing export of kiln-dried lumber and processed lumber molding. The air-dry levy is observed to be working well as a disincentive to export of commodity products by reducing export of air-dried lumber and increasing kiln-dried lumber and sliced veneer. (2) The air-dry levy showed a significant effect with an increase in percent of LUS (used as a measure of species diversification) exported in the post-intervention time period. (3) There is the need to improve machinery upgrade to include CNC technologies, relationship with buyers, strengthening of wood inspection authority, flexibility in terms of trade, Internet capabilities, and financial support to the industry. |
