The Wenchi Municipal Director of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoFA), Victor Yao-Dablo has called for the introduction of a national task force to fight illegal chainsaw operations and preserve the nation’s forest resources.

According to him, the task force's job would be to help intensify surveillance on the shoulders of forest reserves and combat illegal timber logging which has been depleting the forest and affecting national biodiversity.

Mr. Yao-Dablo who spoke to Joy News at Wenchi in the Bono region said agriculture which is often referred to as the bedrock of Ghana’s economy has depended largely on the strength of the forest and trees that is being fast eroded.

He said there was an urgent need to protect and conserve cash crops from destructive human activities for sustainable use since “agriculture accounted for approximately 42% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and also employs 54% of national workforce”.

“The annual average earnings of farmers engaged in cash crops cultivation has been declining due to tropical deforestation which is partly caused by illegal chainsaw operators through illegal logging," he further explained.

Mr. Yao-Dablo stated that aside illegal chainsaw operations, the task force will also check the unscrupulous and uncontrolled activities of sand winning, charcoal burners, illegal small-scale miners, as well as overgrazing that has been contributing to forest destruction.

He said cash crops farms such as cocoa, cashew, oil palm, acacia, mangoes, coffee, rubber and moringa was being threatened due to forest destruction, adding that if the situation is not brought under control, the country would suffer in the long term.

The Wenchi Municipal Director of MoFA appealed to residents of forest fringe communities to help prevent the menace of illegal lumbering and other negative environmental practices and arrest the perpetrators involved.