Development Southern Africa Vol 8, No 4, November 1991

Viewpoint

Forestry industry's woodlots programme

Tony van der Watt*

The forestry industry has achieved major strides in promoting tree farming —both for timber and forestry products, and for fuel in rural communities inKwaZulu and the northern and eastern Transvaal.

According to Mr Bruce Mackenzie, chairman of the Forestry Council's promotioncommittee, results following the encouragement of woodlots were promising,and a number of schemes to promote woodlots in these developing areas hadtaken off. It was clear that forestry could be a profitable branch of farming evenon a fairly small scale.

The woodlot schemes initiated by forestry companies and organisations willnot only yield cash from sales to pulp mills and bark processing factories, butwill provide local building materials as well as domestic fuel.

The various programmes have been running for up to eight years and, bearingin mind the growth cycles of trees, are thus still in their infancy.

But the example they are setting of free enterprise in a rural setting is expectedto trigger further woodlot schemes in many parts of southern Africa.

The acitivities of the various forestry companies and organisations to date arediscussed below.

1. SAPPISappi took the lead in the forestry industry in 1983 by initiating its 'ProjectGrow' in conjunction with the Gencor Development Fund and the KwaZuluDepartment of Agriculture and Forestry, as a social responsibility programme.

This project assists local plot holders to grow eucalyptus for sale to Sappi's pulpmill at Mandini and its Saiccor mill at Umkomaas, by providing them withseedlings, technical advice and interest-free funding during the growing periodof the trees.

Regular meetings are held with chiefs, indunas and KwaZulu officials beforeplanting commences in a given area. However, private ownership is stressed,and the individual farmers do all the land preparation, establishment andmaintenance work themselves.

More than 2 500 growers are now involved, with substantial earnings by thefirst growers whose trees have been clearfelled. One grower received a profit

* Africom, public relations consultants to the Forestry Council.

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of R18 000 on the yield of his six-hectare plot, after deduction of loans and cashadvances.

Project Grow provides not only a cash income and job opportunities, but alsotimber for domestic needs such as fence and building poles and firewood.

2 . MONDIThe approach by Mondi Paper Company is to assist small farmers in the higherrainfall coastal areas of KwaZulu between the Tugela River and the Mozambiqueborder to establish commercial woodlots of between one and five hectares. Someplot holders are consolidating their holdings into larger units, the largest todate being 170 ha.

Project Khulanathi ('grow with us') involves the replacement of other land uses,such as grazing which yields the plot holder an annual income of perhaps R20per hectare per year, with the growing of eucalyptus to feed Mondi's RichardsBay pulp mill, which yields an income for the farmer of about R500/ha peryear.

Mondi provides the know-how, seedlings and advance cash payments to tidethe farmers over the six- to eight-year growing period.

The company is looking to develop several hundred hectares of land per yearin this way, leading to the production of up to 125 000 tons of timber per year.

The cash injection into the local economy will be enormous, and will facilitatesocio-economic advancement through the creation of employment andprosperity.

Further north in Maputaland, where the population density is much lower,Mondi hopes to develop forestry on a more extensive basis. As a prelude to thisplan, an environmental study is being done into the various effects whichafforestation is likely to have on the area. The object is to promote balanceddevelopment, in which conservation will play its rightful role.

3 . HL&HHL&H Mining Timber is co-operating with the KaNgwane Government in aproject to supply 80 000 leucaena seedlings to plot owners in this easternTransvaal region.

The fast-growing leucaena species is used for the production of poles — forfencing and traditional construction by the owners of the trees or for sale inthe community — with the timber off-cuts providing domestic firewood.

The project will thus inject a greater measure of self-sufficiency in these productsinto the semi-rural economy of KaNgwane, and promote commercial activity.

The original commitment was made using seed collected locally, but to avertthe fear among conservationists that the exotic leucaena might prove aninvasive species, HL&H is liaising with the University of Hawaii to develop aseedless hybrid for reproduction by cloning.

By this method, which is already well established in commercial timberproduction, superior tree specimens are 'duplicated' thousands of times, whichenhances optimum wood production, and because the trees do not seedthemselves, they grow only where they are required and planted by man.

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4. NORTHERN TRANSVAAL WOODLOTS WORKING GROUPPopulation growth in the densely populated northern Transvaal region,including Venda, Lebowa and Gazankulu, has caused increasing pressure onthe natural woodlands' ability to provide fuelwood and traditional buildingmaterials. In some areas where the natural tree cover was sparse, local fuelwoodresources are no longer available.

At a workshop on the Westfalia Estate of Hans Merensky Holdings in 1986,the participants agreed that if the scarcity of fuelwood was not supplementedby woodlots in good time, the indigenous trees and vegetation would bethreatened, leading to the environmental degradation of potentially productiveareas.

The Northern Transvaal Woodlots Working Group (NTWWG) was formed toshare expertise, find solutions and give momentum to a drive towards woodlotsin Venda, Gazankulu. Lebowa and KaNgwane.

The NTWWG has offices at the Hans Merensky Foundation's Northern Timbers,and its annual meetings are attended by representatives of the developing areasinvolved, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, Forestek (CSIR), theDevelopment Bank of SA, the National Energy Council, HL&H, Mondi and HansMerensky Holdings.

Important developments since the start of the NTWWG include:

- the establishment of several drought-resistant eucalyptus hybrid trials toestablish their performance in difficult environments

- the establishment of a dry-zone hardwood trial designed by OxfordUniversity, consisting of twenty-two different species

- the development of agroforestry systems based on the tropical tree, leucaena- low-interest loans to Venda growers to encourage woodlot establishment- the provision of more than 100 000 cuttings and seedlings for woodlot

establishment by Hans Merensky Holdings, Mondi and HL&H- the identification and setting aside of new woodlot areas for future

development.

The greatest fuelwood shortage is in areas with an annual rainfall of less than600 mm. Innovation based on research is needed to identify suitable trees andestablish techniques for growing them.

5. SA WATTLE GROWERS' UNIONSome 800 farmers in KwaZulu grow wattle on plots averaging 2 ha in size, andare assisted with technical information by the SA Wattle Growers' Union(SAWGU) through its extension service.

Advice is given by means of talks and demonstrations at field days and visitsto individual growers.

Most of these wattle growers are within 30 km of wattle bark processingfactories, and farm in the KwaZulu districts of Mapumulo (between Greytownand Stanger), Ndwedwe (north-west of Durban), Mpumalanga (north-east ofPietermaritzburg), and Ntonjaneni (around Melmoth).

SAWGU, which has its headquarters in Pietermaritzburg and represents wattlegrowers throughout Natal and the south-eastern Transvaal, liaises with theKwaZulu Department of Agriculture and Forestry to facilitate participation in

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the present remunerative export market. SAWGU intends to appoint a full-timeextension officer in KwaZulu in due course.

SAWGU's KwaZulu operations, although partly the result of a socialresponsibility drive, are also in the interests of the wattle industry itself— byincreasing the number of growers it is able to expand the long-term supply ofbark. Wattle is the most appropriate tree crop for KwaZulu because the wattlegrowers are able to sell their bark directly at ruling prices to processing factoriesserving the tanning industry, and dispose of their wood privately as firewoodand building poles.

The growers established themselves on their own initiative, but withencouragement from SAWGU after field days had been held in the differentregions. Annual 'Best Woodlot' prizes are awarded after inspections andfeedback discussion with growers.

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