Timber iQ August - September 2019 // Issue:45 | Page 36

FEATURES
Small scale
timber
operations
The South Africa 2017/18 Yearbook
estimates that approximately
158 400 people are employed by
the forestry industry in South
Africa. The timber industry falls
within the forestry industry and
has different sectors including
sawmilling, timber boarding and
mining timber amongst others.
By Dineo Phoshoko
The forestry industry employs approximately 158 400 people in
South Africa.
T
he sectors are operated by a combination of established
businesses and small-scale operators. Timber iQ takes a
look at what the industry is like for small-scale operators
and finds out how they manage to hold their own in a
competitive environment.
In addition to the economic significance, the timber industry
has also played a significant role in South Africa’s historical
context. A research article by Isaiah Mahlolani Mahlangu,
homed in on small scale timber farming, focusing on the
Entembeni Community. Titled Small scale timber farming in
Entembeni Community – exploring sustainability and
possibilities for leisure and tourism, Mahlangu’s study
explained that timber farming in South Africa dated back to the
16th and 17th centuries. Following the arrival of Portuguese
navigators and Jan van Riebeeck in 1652, there was an
unparalleled ‘overutilisation of indigenous trees for building
ships among others’.
As time progressed, the demand for timber increased, which
attracted private sector initiatives because of the lucrative
opportunities that became available. Mahlangu’s study further
explains that as time went on, the South African government
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AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2019 //
identified and established community forestry programmes to
assist rural communities in meeting their requirements for
firewood and building materials.
Small-scale timber operations started picking up
commercially in the 1980s — which made way for commercial
forestry companies to establish business partnerships with
local communities. Examples of such partnerships between
established commercial companies and communities is Sappi’s
Project Grow and Mondi’s Khulanathi scheme.
In the study, Mahlangu mentions that the government
showed interest in promoting small-scale timber growing, after
realising the potential it had in terms of job creation and
poverty alleviation in rural communities.
SMALL-SCALE TIMBER OPERATIONS IN SOUTH
AFRICA
Small-scale saw milling is an example of a small-scale timber
operation. In his journal article titled Raising the Stakes –
Impacts of privatisation, certification and partnerships in South
African forestry, (2001), co-author James Mayers writes that
there are two broad types of miller apparent in the small-scale
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