Small loggers need to create niche products
-says visiting researcher
By Johann Earle
Stabroek News
April 2, 2003
Duncan Macqueen, Senior Research Associate at the International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED) on Friday said small loggers need to create niche products to become more competitive.
Macqueen came to Guyana at the invitation of the Guyana National Initiative for Forest Certification (GNIFC), a forest certification body which only recently came into being.
His presentation was entitled, “David and Goliath: How can Small and Medium Scale Forest Enterprises Compete in the Global Market Place? Lessons from Brazil” and looked at ways in which many forest enterprises are run in that country.
The presentation, held at the Guyana Forestry Com-mission’s office, Kingston, began by examining what was happening in the global timber trade. Macqueen observed that trends in this trade were not exempt from global processes and that trade was increasing faster than production in highly processed products where design and customer information were paramount.
He said that in Brazil, unlike Guyana, the trade was dominated by plantation products, by pulp-based products and non-wood or mixed substitutes.
Macqueen said the message was, ‘If you can’t compete, don’t. Seek to create your own niche’. He said this in relation to small enterprises which may seek to compete on a global scale while not considering selling their goods on the local market, as was done on a large scale in Brazil. Only a small percentage of all forest products is sold on the export market. This phenomenon, though viable in Brazil because of that country’s large local market, may not necessarily work in Guyana given the size of the local market here, the study showed.
Macqueen found that there was a high rate of deforestation and reforestation in Brazil, though not on equal levels. Of every 15,000 square kilometres of forest cut down, only 1,500 square kilometres were replanted.
Seventy-five percent of all timber in Brazil came from land clearing, the study showed, suggesting that there was a land tenure system in place where people owned the land, making the task of monitoring a challenge. Macqueen lauded the system employed by the GFC, which gives out concessions in the form of leases, making it easier to police and document the operations.
One of the most troubling issues in Brazil is bureaucracy, which presents all sorts of difficulties when persons apply for licences and permits. There is also the problem of a large part of the labour force being unskilled. Added to these problems is the lack of readily available market information. Persons also find it extremely difficult to access ready financing. Banks and other institutions in Brazil have the general perception that those involved in forestry are crooks. Apart from that, many think of forestry as a high-risk business and are reluctant to offer financing.
Large-scale timber companies often get the most attention and consideration in terms of certification and marketing. Companies such as Barama, Unamco and Demerara Timbers can be considered examples of those companies in Guyana. The smaller forest producers are often forgotten and they often try to make a living on the margins of profitability and legality.
Macqueen’s agency wants to work in conjunction with the Forest Products Association (FPA), GNIFC and the GFC on developing programmes aimed at assisting small forest producers in Guyana. He said that they were now in the process of putting together a background and having consultations with persons outside of Georgetown.
