Moffat Mungazi
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
A SEVERE shortage of kiln-dried timber has hit the market, largely due to devastating veld fires in various plantations scattered across Manicaland over the years.
Industry leaders are feeling the pinch, but surprisingly, small-scale players are experiencing a surplus, leading to reduced prices in informal markets.
According to Timber Producers Federation chief executive officer, Mr Darlington Duwa, the shortage is more pronounced in non-timber producing regions like Matabeleland, Harare, and other towns.
Mr Dhuwa said the shortage of timber is a direct result of plantations lost due to veld fires, rather than reduced planting rates by producers.
“There is a shortage of timber, particularly for large industry players. The shortage specifically affects kiln-dried timber, and is more pronounced in non-timber producing areas like Matabeleland and others,” he said, attributing the shortage to forests destroyed by veld fires in most plantations, rather than reduced replanting rates.
Although replanting rates may have decreased in some areas, the primary cause of the shortage is the devastating fires.
“This shortage is a result of forests that were lost due to veld fires experienced in most plantations. It is not a result of reduced replanting rates, no. Yes, there could have been reduced replanting in some areas, but the major cause of this shortage has been fires that were experienced in the plantations,” said Mr Dhuwa.
Mr Dhuwa also cited the limited capacity to dry available timber as a contributing factor to the shortage.
“Producers had to upgrade their kilns, which is expensive and has resulted in reduced output. Even those with the capacity face challenges in securing the right sizes and quantities of timber,” he said.
Historically, policy barriers have hindered the development of the timber industry.
These include lack of a national forest policy to guide forestry development, weak implementation of the Forest Act, particularly regarding forest fires, prohibitive levies on the timber industry; insufficient incentives for the struggling industry and unavailability of land for new commercial timber plantations.
In fact, back in 2019, experts in the industry noted that if there are no interventions, the country would face timber shortages starting from 2025.
That year, Zimbabwe’s hectarage under timber had declined sharply from 120 000 to 70 000, about 41 percent of the previous year due to the harsh business environment, illegal settlers, miners and veld fires, a situation that will lead to timber shortages in the near future.
Manicaland is the country’s biggest timber producer with plantations all over the Eastern Highlands bordering Mozambique.
