By JOSHUA JERE –
“THE Kwacha can appreciate and start trading at K3 to one dollar in just four months, if Zambia can exploit the forest reserves and promote timber exports,” declares Charles Masange, the president of the Timber Producers Association of Zambia and the most vibrant timber industry activist.
Mr Masange’s statement may be exaggerated. But it is worth examining the possibility of timber saving the Kwacha for the current quagmire where the local currency has depreciated by nearly 50 per cent this year largely due to a fall in prices of copper, Zambia’s major export earner.
On Alibaba.com (yes Zambia’s timber is being traded in the Chinese online trading platform), Zambia’s Mukwa timber has a price tag of  $950  per cubic meter and Rosewood timber fetches as much as 1,000 dollars per cubic meter while a forty foot-long container of Mukula logs costs between $35,000 to $40,000.
This means that just 500 truckloads of Mukula logs exported to China in raw form can earn the country $8 million and one thousand truckloads would earn the country $20 million.
Ministry of Lands and Environment Permanent Secretary Barnaby Mulenga acknowledges the potential impact the forestry and timber sector can make to the economy.
“Currently, the contribution of forestry to GDP stands at five per cent but it can go up to 30 or 40 per cent.
“It is one of those sectors that is very positive in terms of job creation but also for the kind of revenue it can bring into the country….it is a lot of money. This is why we want to have the forest sector revamped.”
By Mr Mulenga’s estimates. Zambia – with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $ 27 billion in 2014 – can earn about $ 10.8 dollars from forestry and timber sector.
This number represents more than what the country earns from copper export revenue which stood at $8.4 billion (Bank of Zambia) in 2011 when copper prices were at their peak.
This is not an over estimation.
According to United States (US) based Central intelligence Agency (CIA) Fact Book, 66.3 per cent of Zambia’s land consists of forest which represents 5.1 million hectares.
Plantation forests occupy 55,000 hectares which mainly grow pine or eucalyptus.
The Zambia Forests and Forestry Industries Corporation (ZAFFICO) owns 50,000 hectors of the forest plantations and the remaining 5,000 hectors is managed by the Department of Forestry.
The rest is natural woodland where Rosewood, Tick and Mukula are found.
Finland with a land size of 338,424 Km2, just less than half of Zambia’s land size, is one of the most forested countries in Europe covering 23 million hectares or 74.2 per cent of the country’s land size.
In 1997, Finland earned $10.3 billion from timber exports.
Finland recognizes the potential Zambia has in forestry and in 2014 it extended 4.8 million Euros to support the development of the Forestry Sector.
“Timber is green gold and it can earn the country far higher foreign exchange than the mines do,” says Mr Masange. “But the problem is that there is too much emphasis on environmental protection and
inconsistency in timber policy management.”
Mr Masange claims there is too much regulation in timber cutting that no regard is given to the contribution the industry can make in earning the country foreign exchange and creating jobs.
“Many of our members with valid conveyance licenses issued by the Department of Forestry have been arrested and are remanded in custody while timber yards, trucks and containers are being seized,” says Mr Masange.
He cites one case were a district forestry office in Central Province authorised a timber trader to cut Mukula trees only for the timber to be confiscated by the police.
“But the most severe consequence for our members has been the paying of demurrage charges for hired trucks and trailers and containers that have been detained by the police since 2014,” says Mr Masange.
He says the police are the wrong agents to enforce law and order in the forest industry.
The Lands permanent secretary says environmental protection is very important but acknowledges that a lot of emphasis has truly been placed on protection rather than management of the forest resource.
“That was largely due to the way the legislation was drafted, but now we have a new Forest Act (enacted in August 2015) which tries to change all that and look at both aspects.
“But we have to exploit the forest resource in a sustainable manner,” says Mr Mulenga.
However, the permanent secretary said it was regrettable that some timber traders with legally obtained licenses are being lock3ed up.
“What is happening is that some timber dealers would carry one license and cut timber from different locations with that same license,” says
Mr Mulenga who denied assertions that there was a ban on Mukula harvesting or related exports.
“There are a lot of people who were given licenses to cut Mukula but a lot of the Mukula was being cut illegally. Measures being employed to stop that is what has been interpreted as a ban,” he says, explaining that there was no statutory instrument to that effect.
“However, our regulations don’t allow the export of timber in its raw form (in logs),” he says.
The ministry of Lands is reported to have earned K 7 million auctioning Mukula logs it seized from smugglers just between December 2014 and January 2015.
The quantity of Mukula logs auction is not clear. But it shows how much revenue the Government is losing from the forests.
Mr Mulenga says the Government has realized the need to harness forests and would soon establish timber trading floors to promote transparency.
He also says Government will soon employ forest guards to improve security.
“This has been one of the weakest links in the forestry sector. Before the forest guards were laid off, people used to fear cutting trees.
But Government wants to revisit that and so we will be employing 23 forest guards for a start but we also want to work with ZAFFICO to protect our forests.”
Although Mr Mulenga refused to be drawn into speculation of whether it is possible for the forestry sector to save the Kwacha, he did acknowledge that the sector has enormous potential to change the
dynamics of the Zambian economy in terms of revenue and creation of jobs.
“It is true the forestry sector is one of the buoyant sectors that can create a lot of jobs and bring a lot of foreign exchange. This is the case for countries such as South Africa.
“That is why the Government has realised the need to change things in the forestry sector,” he said.
(The Author is a second year student in the school of Mass Communication at Cavendish University)