0 Executive summary

Historical background

The Forest resource base of Ghana has been described in addition to the various vegetation zones and the related climatic and soils conditions. A review of the general land use patterns has been undertaken.

The history and some of the experiences with respect to the management of the natural forests and hardwood plantations by the Government of Ghana and the private sector since about 1956 have also been analyzed. These include natural hardwood and forest plantation silvicultural systems such as the Tropical Shelterwood System (TSS), the Modified Selection System (MSS), Line Planting as well as block forest plantation formation and the Taungya systems. The status of the vegetation in the reserved forests as assessed by the Forestry department (FD) in 1995 is given.

It is proposed that any existing and relatively undisturbed past MSS areas and similar areas that were line planted should be reassessed using current improved analytical methods. The lessons learnt should be used to undertake further research on limited scales for possible application in the rehabilitation of the currently degraded natural forests on a larger scale. Although this study deals mainly with hardwood plantations, it is the opinion of the author that the proper management of the natural hardwood forests can also make a significant contribution towards the overall supply of hardwood timber on the market. It will also facilitate the amelioration of the environment as well as the improvement of the livelihood of the rural dwellers.

The Taungya system is also mentioned as being very important in the provision of revenue during the long gestation period before the first commercial thinning or the final harvest. Taungya is also very important in ensuring the people’s participation in forest management in accordance with the Ghana Forest and Wildlife Policy (1994) especially with respect to the rehabilitation of the degraded natural forest and open forest areas which are outside the reserved forests.

A description of plantation management models that are currently being practiced in Ghana with regards to rubber and oil palm which have the potential for application in forest plantations is given. These are the small holder, out-grower and the lease-back systems.

Institutional issues

1. Legal and policy issues

A review of the relevant legal and policy instruments that affect commercial plantation formation has been undertaken. The main findings on areas that can create disincentives for commercial plantation formation are discussed below:

• The Natural Resources Management Programme (NRMP) has been developed as a country-led initiative to implement the FDMP. Under the High Forest Resource management sub-component of the NRMP, the Government plans to establish a Forest Plantations Development Centre (FPDC) to promote and encourage private forest plantation development. The sub-component is composed of three elements as follows:
  • Project Management (funded by the IDA);
  • Credit to Tree Growers (to be funded by the African Development Bank); and
  • Technical Assistance (to be funded by the EU).

The project is meant to support all those who are planting or wish to plant timber trees commercially within the HFZ.

• Although the Forest Resources Management Act, 1998 (Act 547), accords the ownership of planted trees to the owner, it does not explicitly separate planted trees from the legal controls afforded to natural trees. These include:
  • The requirement of a TUC to harvest timber;
  • The requirement of Registered Property Mark to harvest timber for commercial purposes;
  • The export of specified types of processed or unprocessed timber which is subject to an export levy; and
  • Royalty rates, lease fees and any other applicable fees which apply equally to natural and planted timber.

Act 547 does not allow private holding of Timber utilization Contracts (TUCs). Permission is required from a plantation owner for the issue of a TUC which does not make it explicitly clear that a TUC can be issued to the plantation owner himself.

• The communities and landowners in particular have been against the inequitable distribution of the revenues that accrue from the forests on their land (see Table below) as prescribed by the 1992 Constitution (section 267(6)).

Distribution of royalties with respect to exploitation from the natural forest

• The Trees and Timber Decree, 1974 (NRCD 273) requires the registration of a Property Mark for the exploitation of timber for commercial purposes.
• The Administration of Stool lands Act, 1962 (Act 123) states that the duration of timber rights may not exceed 30 years. The rotation of slow growing hardwood species would normally exceed the latter limit. Hence the application of Act 123 to plantations would require review.
• The Forest an Wildlife Policy, 1994, and the EPA guidelines require environmental impact assessments for forest plantations which extend over 40 hectares.

2. Land and tree tenure

Land tenure

A potential investor would have to deal with the following that may be considered as some of the disincentives with respect to the establishment of forest plantations:

• Multiplicity of interests and rights in land which may vary in different parts of the country leading to conflicting claims to ownership;
• Lack of reliable maps indicating stool/skin land boundaries which can gives rise to disputes (the GERM Project under the auspices of the EPA is addressing this issue);
• Cumbersome land disposal and documentation procedures;
• Potential conflict concerning tenurial and management arrangements for plantations within forest reserves where parties other than the FD are involved;
• Inconsistencies in the extent of land over which timber rights can be granted. The Administration of Stool Lands Act and the Forest, 1962, and the Forest Resources Management Regulations, 1998 (LI 1649) give limits of 100 km² and 125 km² respectively.

Despite the above, the Ghanaian statutory and customary laws do not legally prevent one to secure long-term access to land. Provided suitable land can be identified without conflicting claims, there appear to be no inherent legal limitations to the negotiation of rights of sufficient duration for plantation purposes if the landowner agrees to the purported land use.

Tree tenure

Tenant/immigrant farmers may not plant trees on their land without re-negotiating for the change of the land use which was the basis for the grant/lease of the land in question. Under the traditional land-use system, the planting of trees by tenant farmers is generally considered as perpetuation of stay, which may in turn indirectly imply ownership of the land. The tenant farmer therefore does not own the natural or planted trees on the land issued to him except in the Upper West Region of Ghana. The tenant farmer may however harvest trees granted/leased land for won use but not for commercial purposes.

Technical issues

1. Species selection

Based on the past forest plantation experiences coupled with knowledge on the silvicultural characteristics of the indigenous species, potential species for planting in the various vegetation zones of Ghana has been proposed as shown in Table below.

All the recommended species have been tried by FORIG and/or the FD. The species on which little information is available locally is Piptadeniastrum africanum. The latter, however, has a successful history as a plantation species, particularly in Cote d’Ivoire although there is little information about potential yields.

Species recommendations for the ecological zones

2. Production of planting material

The capacities within the country for the production of improved seeds by the governmental agencies (e.g. the FORIG) and the private sector have been assessed. This has been found to be currently limiting with respect to either the availability of improved seeds or planting materials and the capability to produce the quantities of planting materials for large scale plantations (10,000 ha./yr. over next 20 years) as envisaged in the Forest Development Master Plan (1996-2020). This is an area that requires to be accorded the highest priority so as to ensure the success of the programme.

3. Summary of technical constraints

The main technical constraints to plantation formation in Ghana have been summarized as follows:

• Limited experience with successful commercial forest plantation formation. Hence no proven technical packages;
• Lack of institutionalized incentive packages to make investments in forest plantations competitive with alternative investment opportunities (such packages were however in their investigation stages at the MLF as at the time of writing this report);
• No information on available land and site typing even though there is no shortage of gross area;
• Lack of adequate and genetically improved planting material; and
• The lack of the capacity for fire management in the Forest Transition Zone.

In order to minimize the risks associated with tree plantations in Ghana as a result of the limited experience with commercial forest plantation formation, it has been proposed that proven silvicultural prescriptions and management systems should be adopted from both locally and similar areas in the tropical world. It has also been indicated that the identification of plantation locations must be based on climatic and soil/site factors of the species of interest when such data is available. These suggestions are based on the successes that have been achieved in the country with respect to rubber and oil palm plantations that were established using similar principles.

Economic issues

The economic factors that may hinder commercial plantation formation include:

• Long and medium term loans for schemes such as forest plantations are not available in the country and the commercial lending rates are also very high;
• Illegal chainsaw lumbering and timber trade coupled with the marketing of plantation timber below the market price by the FD distorts the domestic timber prices;
• The vetting of contracts with respect to the marketing of tree products; and
• Timber industry not adapted to small diameter milling.

Economic calculations by the Ohene-Cofie (1997) and FAO (1998) have been reviewed. It has been deduced that the calculations by the FAO in 1998 may be the only comprehensive one that has so far been compiled. The results are shown in Table below.

Summary of Benefit to Cost Ratio at 10% discount rate

Source: FAO (1998) Large (>100 ha), Medium (10 - 40 ha) and Small (<10 ha)

The conditions indicating acceptable economic outcome are shown as bold numbers. The above results indicate that the choice of site and possibly the use of improved genetic materials are very important. The most promising indigenous and exotic species are Ceiba/Wawa and Teak/Cedrela respectively. Teak comes out as the best due to the high value of sawlogs and the marketability of the intermediate produce.

All species perform well on “Good Sites” except for Niangon which is a long rotation species. A special support may be required for Niangon and similar species with niche markets so as to encourage their planting.

The financial rates of return obtained by FAO (1998) for selected species are as below.

Estimated financial rates of returns

Source: FAO (1998) Large (>100 ha), Medium (10 - 40 ha) and Small (<10 ha)

The FAO results as shown in the tables below may be taken as indicative. This is due to the paucity of objective and reliable data on costs on forest plantation formation and real growth rates achievable by potential species on various sites.

The FAO financial models relate only to direct costs and no overhead elements were considered. This may have effect on the figures for medium and large scale growers. No allowance is also made for the produce from Taungya used in the small scale model.

Conclusions and recommendations

The Government of Ghana is committed to the facilitation of the formation of commercial plantations in the country for economic, environmental and sociological reasons. It is also the intention of the government that most of the commercial forestry activities should be the province of the private sector. The forest policy indicates that a share of the benefits from forestry must be devoted to securing the resource.

The necessary political will exists to boost tree plantation formation. What is required are solutions to the pertinent technical issues in addition to the necessary incentives and policy reforms (as well as the refinement of the existing ones) to pave the way for an increased investments in commercial tree plantations by both local and foreign investors. Suggestions for the resolution of these elements have been given in Chapter 6 (Recommendations).