Project To Strengthen The Native Wood Industry Opened

Project To Strengthen The Native Wood Industry Opened
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 2/15/2012

The Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), opened the project for Strengthening the Native Wood Industry in the Dominican Republic, which willdirectly benefit some 244 small and medium size wood producers nationwide.

The openingceremony was attended by Manuel Serrano, Deputy Minister of Forest Resources; Deep Ford, FAO representative in the Dominican Republic; and Juan Jose Espinal, Executive Director of the Center for Agricultural and Forestry Development (CEDAF).

The openingceremony was attended by Manuel Serrano, Deputy Minister of Forest Resources; Deep Ford, FAO representative in the Dominican Republic; and Juan Jose Espinal, Executive Director of the Center for Agricultural and Forestry Development (CEDAF for its acronym in Spanish).

This project receives technical and financial support from FAO and will be implemented by the Ministry of the Environment, which is the governing body of the national forest sector in charge of promoting the sustainable development of the forest industry sub-sector, by advancing initiatives that lead to greater efficiency and competitiveness, in order to improve the living conditions of the rural communities that surroundthe wood forests.

Among the project’sobjectives is to provide training to producers and others in the industry in areas such as cutting, sawing, drying, preserving, providing access to markets, business management and other regulatory aspects.In addition, offer technical advice, support in the industrial processes, technology transfer, and contribute equipment for pilot projects.

The owners of the beneficiary sawmills workwith raw materialsprovided bymanagement plans and forest plantations. The project will give priority to industries located in impoverished areas which have significant forestry production, such as Monte Plata, Cotuí, Villa Altagracia, Monción and Restauración.

Although the Dominican Republic has underutilized its resources and excellent potential for producing forest products,it contributes only an estimated 12.5% ??of the domestic demand for wood, which amounts to some 90,000 m3 from management plans, forest plantations and tree cutting.

The processing industry, meanwhile, consists mostly of saws, augers and small sawmills, most of which lack the necessary technology and resources to efficiently and effectively exploit the raw material from the forests, benefit more fromsatisfying the growing demand for wood and its derivatives, and generate income to improve the living conditions of the inhabitants of the forest areas.

The resultsbeing sought with the implementation of this project are: to contribute to the sustainable management of natural resources;to generate employment and income forthe small and medium size producers, harvesters and wood processors; and to reducewood imports,with theensuing savings in foreign currencies, by improving the productivity and competitiveness of the value chain of the wood industry in the country.

The project also includesexpediting and making more efficient the legal standardsthat are being applied to the forestry industry, in order to enable their insertioninto a consolidated productive chain that responds in quality and quantity to the demands from the social sector and from the domestic market.