About Us
The Department of Forest Resources Technology is one of the new departments at the Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources - Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. The department has gone through several transformational stages to its current state and now runs BSC. FOREST RESOURCES TECHNOLOGY (4-year duration) with a very high career prospects in the Forest Resources Management.
The Department of Forest Resources Technology which used to be the Faculty of Forest Resources Technology (FFRT) established in 2005 was the youngest Faculty of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). However, it started in 1922 as a three-year combined Agriculture and Forestry Training School at the Cadbury Hall in Kumasi to train Forest Technicians for the then newly established Forestry Department of Ghana.
In 1936, the Forestry Department assumed full responsibility for running the Forestry Training School. In 1943, the Forestry Training School was moved from the Cadbury Hall, Kumasi to Sunyani and renamed Sunyani Forestry School (SFS) and offered a three-year certificate course in Forestry under the Forestry Commission (FC) of Ghana. The Sunyani Forestry School was upgraded to a three-year Diploma College and renamed College of Renewable and Natural Resources (CRNR) in 1999 in affiliation with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi.
In 2003 a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Forestry Commission and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi transferring College of Renewable and Natural Resources to Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Sunyani Campus. Thus, in addition to the 3-Year Diploma Programme, a 4-Year B.Sc. Degree Programme. (B.Sc. Forest Resources Technology) was introduced in August 2005. The first batch of 120 students was admitted in August 2006.
In 2012, following the passage of the University of Energy and Natural Resources Act (630), 2011, the campus of the Faculty of Forest Resources Technology in Sunyani was taken over by Ghana Government and converted to an autonomous University which is University of Energy and Natural Resources. In anticipation of the proposal for the take-over, the Faculty of Forest Resources Technology was relocated to Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi in 2011 with the admission of the first year students for the Kumasi campus. A gradual phasing out programme was then developed to get the three batches left in Sunyani to graduate. The last batch of the Sunyani students graduated in June 2014 to complete the process.
In 2019, the Faculty of Forest Resources Technology was converted into a Department under the Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources. The Department currently has four (4) Options for the undergraduate programme.
The options are:
- Social Forestry
- Land Reclamation and Rehabilitation
- Ecotourism and Forest Recreation
- Wood Processing and Marketing
The courses in the Department are practical-oriented to give the students application of theories, hands-on training and expose them to work environment and problem identification and therefore involves travelling and field works.
As a result, the Department has a field station at Brosankro about 60 km from Kumasi which enables the Department to introduce students to on-the-job training skills of their studies. In addition, the Department runs a full semester industrial attachment for the final year students. Under this programme the students are attached to over 32 natural resource related Institutions in both private and public institutions across the country to introduce students to a very comprehensive on-the job training skills. This exposes them to work environment and problem identification.