Ghana Reports $260 Million From Timber Sales in 2025

Ghana earned about $260 million from timber and timber product exports and domestic sales in 2025, according to the Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission, Mr Hugh Brown. A total volume of 952,000 cubic metres of timber and timber products was supplied to local and international markets last year.

Ecotourism sites within wildlife parks and forest reserves attracted about 800,000 visitors, an increase of more than 20 per cent over the previous year.

Brown stated that forests remained critical to Ghana's socioeconomic development. About 20 per cent of the country's population depended directly or indirectly on forest resources for livelihoods, food security and healthcare needs. Ghana's forest cover was estimated at 6.4 million hectares, representing about 27 per cent of the country's land area.

The forestry sector generated direct and indirect employment for about 800,000 people through logging, timber processing, furniture manufacturing, plantation development, ecotourism, herbal medicine practice and forest management.

2025 Reforestation Results A total of 23,600 hectares of degraded and deforested lands were restored through enrichment planting and plantation development in 2025. Additionally, 1.9 million seedlings were planted under the amenity planting programme, while 2.1 million seedlings were established on farms under the Trees-on-Farm component.

"In total, about 30.8 million tree seedlings were planted across the country by the Forestry Commission, private sector organisations and civil society groups," Mr Brown stated. A recent survival assessment showed seedling survival rates ranging between 65 and 85 per cent in the high forest zone and between 40 and 78 per cent in the northern savannah ecological zone.

2026 Planting Plans For the 2026 planting season, the Forestry Commission, in collaboration with private sector partners and other stakeholders, aimed to plant 30 million seedlings nationwide. Mr Brown appealed to Ghanaians to support the initiative by obtaining free seedlings from Forestry Commission offices across the country.

Mr Brown also outlined interventions including the review of the Forestry Commission Act, the introduction of payment-for-ecosystem-services schemes, enhanced ecotourism investments, establishment of forest protection camps and intensified training for frontline staff.