-Prime Minister
The Forestry Products Development and Marketing Council Inc. (FPDMC) last Thursday presented a ‘prototype’ wooden comb and box, using a lesser known species of wood, as a symbolic gesture to Prime Minister Samuel Hinds.
The comb which is made of Itikiborabali species was presented to Prime Minister Hinds at his Wight’s Lane office, Kingston, a release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) said.
The wooden comb is currently on sale for US$50. The prime minister said that the initiative is in keeping with government’s thrust for sustainable forestry development and for the promotion of value-added activities.
The initiative follows a visit by the prime minister to the facility in 2009, where he spoke of the importance of value-added and downstream production while displaying a wooden comb. “I received the wooden comb during one of my visits to China and so as a forestry-based organisation during my visit, I challenged them to do the same using lesser species of wood…,” he said.
Meanwhile, there is a growing interest to expand value-added, export-oriented manufacturing industries such as garment making, value-added forest products, agro-processing, packaging, leather craft, ceramics, and construction material, the release noted.
Derrick Cummings, Executive Director of FPDMC, said the organisation has recognised that it is necessary to widen species utilization since it can increase value and profit without expanding the areas of harvest.
He noted that 15 lesser used species have been successfully tested and 11 more are identified to be tested. This, he said, is vital since market demands are important in widening species selection.
