Wood Workers at Dormaa Ahenkro in the Brong Ahafo Region popularly known as Dormaa Wood Village have bought into the ‘one village, one dam’ government policy and have constructed a dam to help them irrigate 4,000 acres of reforestation project they are undertaking.
The dam, according to the wood workers, is not limited to watering tree seedlings alone but is open to all farmers cultivating land around the vicinity. They explained that, they have decided to embark on the project to enable them sustain their supply of wood in the latter years.
The chairman of Dormaa Wood Village Workers, Kofi Owusu speaking to DAILY GUIDE, said they normally get most of the wood they use outside the country.
The wood workers, numbering about 500 complained that a taskforce set up by the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Kwaku Asumah-Cheremey to check illegal chainsaw lumbering has been harassing them and extorting money from them.
He said they were not informed about the formation of such a taskforce hence would resist its work anytime they meet on the road. He insisted that they are not chainsaw operators but legally registered wood dealers and should therefore not be harassed.
He said they are looking for an opportunity to meet with the regional minister and also ask for his support to construct more dams in the area to encourage farming in the dry season.
Mr. Kofi Owusu pleaded with government and the Forestry Commission to come out with clear cut by-laws to regulate chainsaw operations and guard against indiscriminate arrest of wood transporters some of whom are legally registered timber operators.
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