Vailability of forest products to support industries in Tanzania: challenges and opportunities

Abstract

Primary forest based industries in the country play a major role in the conversion of forest products into various end uses. The current study was conducted to assess demand and supply of raw materials, the means of allocating raw materials, the challenges and opportunities of the availability and production of raw materials for forest industries. The study was conducted in Tanzania mainland covering seven zones and 23 forest plantations under TFS jurisdiction. Structured questionnaire were used for data collection. The data were then coded, compiled, and analysed using SPSS and Ms excel. The results indicate that primary wood based industries were either active (44%) or inactive (45%) with small proportions (11%) being dormant and their actual installed, annual wood demand and utilized capacities were 2,541,918 m3 , 1,559,332 m3 and 554,752 m3 respectively. The finding revealed that the total annual wood allocated for all primary wood based industries increases yearly due to the growing market demand of wood for construction purpose or other development activities. The finding revealed further that the increasing demand of industrial round wood created a lot of challenges that affected day-to-day operations. Example of such challenges include political leaders banning harvesting of forest products. Finally, there is existing potential for government, individual, private or community for expanding areas for establishment of new forest plantations in order to increase supply of raw wood material for wood based industries.