Alex Rose-Innes
“If we give our very best to all the children of today and it we pass on our planet in the fullness of her beauty and natural richness, we will be serving the children of the future – Former President Nelson Mandela.
Many opportunities for a sustainable income had come to the fore over the last 20 years to benefit the previously disadvantaged and the poorer communities across the African continent. Timber had been successfully grown and while many challenges still exist to turn responsible forestry into a properly regulated industry, small growers had been putting food on their family tables.
Various formal schemes had seen the light, but it is among the subsistence growers that this industry had seen a large growth. According to Forestry South Africa (FSA), a 1 000 applications for forest-based businesses are received every year.
Today, on small tracts of land, independent growers had cultivated successful woodlots and returns are far greater than that of, for example, sugar cane farming. In KwaZulu-Natal, outgrowers farm on land not bigger than 4ha each, while the Eastern Cape allows for small farms of up to 30ha each. Although 77% these farmers use only half of their land to plant trees, it is a huge step in the right direction as these areas had previously been used for cattle grazing only. These endeavours fall in perfectly with diversifying farming enterprises. Most of all, many of these enterprises are run by women who are competing on equal footing with male farmers.
Africans had grasped these opportunities and some had even become forestry contractors, learning to care for the land, improving their standing in the community and having the means to pay for their children’s’ education. FSA had launched a very successful Emerging Grower Initiative with financial assistance from FAO.
