Dominic Blay 35
trespass and the network is such that it is difficult for people to evade payment.
However, trees gathered from private lands also require permits before they
can be transported to marketing centres.TRENDS AND ISSUES
The resource base for chewing sticks in Ghana has seriously declined as a result
of considerable overexploitation. As a direct result, currently a lot of harvesting
of Garcinia spp. for chewing stick production takes place in Liberia and Côte
d’Ivoire (Holbech 2000). This harvesting outside Ghana is affecting the livelihoods
of harvesters that cannot afford to go to neighbouring countries to harvest the
logs. The decrease in the availability of the Garcinia spp. locally has also led to
the hike in price of chewing sticks and to a situation where some traders sell
any species that can be used as a chewing stick as Garcinia spp.Key issues/problems
The fast depletion of the resource base as result of overexploitation came about
because of the lack of appropriate policies and management strategies including
adequate monitoring to regulate the remaining resource and to put in place
strategies to regenerate the species concerned—the highly organised network
of collectors, processors and traders notwithstanding. This network, which spans
from the rural communities to the urban areas, provides income to many marginal
men and women and therefore contributes significantly to the local and regional
economies. The product also has considerable potential for export not only to
neighbouring countries but also to Ghanaians in Europe and America who still
cherish the use of chewing sticks. Despite the decreased local availability of the
desired species there are still considerable levels of processing and trade in
chewing sticks as imported logs from Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia supplement
domestic stocks. In spite of the importance of the species economically and for
health care, the Forest Services Division has paid little attention to the species
concerned. There has thus far been no government intervention so as to promote
either the regeneration of the species or the development of the market.Conversation and development lessons
It is estimated that about 4,700 trees are harvested a month to meet the demands
of Kumasi and the Ashanti region alone. Thus about 12,000 to 19,000 logs are
processed into chewing sticks monthly for the region. Meanwhile there are equally
important processing centres in Accra and Takoradi. Given this market pressure,
Garcinia spp. is now seriously threatened in Ghana (Wong 1997 ).
There is virtually no management system for chewing sticks because there is
no information on the current level of stocking or the current rate of exploitation.
Although there are regular inventories of timber trees, chewing sticks trees are
not inventoried because they are understorey trees. In addition, there is also no
information on the regenerative capacity of the species or its rate of growth.
Currently the only levels of control of chewing stick exploitation are the high
transportation costs and the gatherers’ dislike for small logs. However,02chewingsticks.p65 35 22/12/2004, 11:04