WHO CAN ACQUIRE THIS FURNITURE IN GHANA?

The cost of new Furniture in the country is very high. One will ask why that high cost for just simple set of furniture. A specialist and Business Manager in the furniture business at Kpogas standard Furniture Mr. Seth Aplerh – Doku says it is because most furniture's are imported and their purchase are done in foreign currency like the dollar. He went on to say that treated wood is on the high side and so to get the average Ghanaian to afford quality furniture one is forced to do most transaction outside which is cheaper if compared.

The big question is who can afford most durable furniture at a minimum cost? Most shops visited have no sign of affordability for the average Ghanaian. Some young adult have question the cost of living in the country as high since the salary structure favours some working class. Companies that pay well are very few if not the bank, oil company and 4 star hotels in Ghana then who can pay any worker to purchase the very best furniture for a living room.

Markets surveys have shown that most furniture’s manufactured in Ghana are very expensive to get since the cost for wood is very high. Most of the lumber extracted from the forest are mostly sold to the best foreign companies in Ghana for export, which has forced the local companies in Ghana to make use of the little wood. The forest reserves are been destroyed for mining activities and less are been planted to maintain the dream of greening the environment.

There are several checkpoints in this country that are guarded by government security agencies but timber logs go through without question since money determines the pockets of the policeman or some military men. Why? Charcoal trucks move freely on our roadblocks bribing the police while forest timber truck does likewise. Northern Ghana is now a desert since any tree that grows, is cut for charcoal burning or fire wood for cooking. The forestry department of the ministry of Agriculture is poorly structured to green Ghana of the various problems in forestry issues. Why?

The staffing of the forestry department is not the best since most of them work to their individual benefit but not to the task and interest of government, forest reserve and its timber for the local industries.

The cost of furniture set (4) which is been done by a local furniture shop is costing around GH 700 to GH1000, while the same set (4) with a foreign furniture shop is costing around GH 1700 to GH 7000.

According to the UN the continent is losing forest twice as fast as the rest of the world. ‘’Once upon a time, Africa boasted seven million square kilometres of forest but a third of that has been lost - most of it to charcoal’’. As stated if Wood and its by-product charcoal are, don’t get government to set out radical steps, then it is likely that wood will remain the primary energy source for decades. What will be the alternative to the rural area since most of them will fight to own a furniture set and charcoal? Company manufactures 250 tonnes of saleable product a month, while other countries look beyond their finite resource so get the wood for furniture.

Bamboo which is mostly used to support constructional work must be seen as an important alternative to the furniture industries in town. The construction company who discover it use for their work is making the cost of one bamboo stick to rise from GH 2 to GH 5.

Driving from the 37, Dzorwulu to the Spintex road and other places one will notice bamboo is dominating the furniture industries with good design as equal to the one been imported. The cost level is average to so many people but a lot of Ghanaian do not patronized it furniture work as compare to the wood type. Where do we go from here in the furniture industries?

People in Asian are familiar with those bamboo culms as versatile material that can be use for furniture, durable fences at backyard, and even habitable house. However, not many are aware that the plant is one of the best renewable resources in the planet and is one of the long-lasting food sources that can be considered to slow down the increase in hunger rate in different parts of the world. Its growth rate is very quick and can even grow well in crowded conditions. Bamboo has lost it value as a staple food in the world since it use have been change into household, construction and makeshift boat. Many have sighted those uses as reason why most people do not show that respect for it. Can that be attributed to the lack of recognition of bamboo at Kakum national park in the central Region without tourist attraction?

Do we force people to use the bamboo product in all our major hotels; public places etc as the first step in promoting the use of bamboo in the country? Should the government or public place take the first lead in the fight to make furniture cheaper and affordable in the country by using bamboo?