Victor Mahlangu
A project gives poor people access to an industry that would otherwise have been inaccessible
For the past 17 years Sappi, a worldwide producer of coated fine paper, has been involved in a successful tree-farming scheme aimed at emerging and subsistence farmers in KwaZulu-Natal. The farmers are provided free seedlings and technical advice, and a market is guaranteed when the trees are felled.
The success of the project, according to the KwaZulu-Natal regional project manager of Sappi, Carl van Loggenberg, is that it gives people from impoverished rural areas access to an industry that, due to the high entry barriers, would have been inaccessible. He said the project also acts as a catalyst for the stimulation of other business in the area.
At the time of harvesting Sappi buys the timber from the growers and pays them a market-related price less the advance payments already made to them. The direct benefits of the project are that the farmers are paid for work done on their land, secures annual advances on the timber crop and can employ people in their community to assist in managing the plantation.
From three growers farming 8ha in 1983 the project now involves more than 9 000 growers farming about 15 000ha, representing a total investment of R10-million. Project Grow is currently providing Sappi with 10 000 tons of timber a year with a total value of R17,5-million.
“What is more interesting about the project is the fact that it does not require subsidies on the part of the government, provided the community has land available. It contributes to the government’s programme of redistribution of wealth, not just in terms of immediate benefits, but also in terms of long-term job creation and training,” says Van Loggenberg.
“The community is involved in various ways. In some cases individuals are the growers, but the whole community is part of the project and becomes involved in forestry. In other areas only some individuals plant, but then make use of the rest of the community to work the plots for them. There are some areas where members of the community do forestry on an individual basis but rotate working on each plot in turn and the individual retains the profits.”
Van Loggenberg says larger plots are easier to manage compared to smaller plots that are scattered over a large area, which tend to be very costly.
Bhekuyise Mbonambi, an emerging farmer from Kwa-Maphumulo in KwaZulu-Natal and chairperson of Sakhokuhle Farmers’ Association, agrees that Sappi has brought changes to their lives. “Sappi has provided a lot of help to us. We were just poor without any effective support from the government, Sappi provided us with free seedlings and technical advice and a market is guaranteed when the trees are felled. We were very fortunate because amakhosi [chiefs] managed to provide us with land.”
He said in his area there area bout eight farmers who farm about 3ha of land each.
“The other reason why we are successful is the fact that the loans are made available interest-free.” These loans are provided by the South African Wattle Growers’ Association. The Small Grower Loan Scheme was introduced in 1994 to provide start-up capital for small-scale farmers and is repayable after the harvesting.
Association director Dave Dobson says life and fire insurance has also been incorporated. He cites the red tape involved in acquiring permits for smaller farmers as a stumbling block.
The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry has acknowledged the problem and is working on simplifing the permit-application process. Mike Warren, deputy director in the department, says it “does not willingly slow development [but has] embarked on a project aimed at ‘streamlining’ the forestry licensing procedure, with a particular focus on the needs of small growers and rural communities.”
Warren says a forestry licensing streamlining project is aimed at providing a clear path for applicants to avoid the many snarl-ups that occur when various departments, with very different mandates, are involved.
“The objectives of the project are to revise and simplify procedures, to clarify mandates and to ensure a cooperative governance framework that provides a direct and rapid path for the forestry applicant. The streamlining process will also result in the development of communications materials and a strategy whereby all stakeholders are informed of rights, responsibilities and procedures.”
Meanwhile, a survey conducted by Forest South Africa indicates that the development of small timber growers has enormous potential for the improvement of rural economic development and plays a significant role in poverty alleviation and job creation.