Market analysis to assess timber products from dryland woodlots and farm forests in South Africa

Abstract

The growing demand for renewable wood products and competition for land in South Africa will necessitate expansion of planted forests into moderately dry areas. Farm forestry and agroforestry options using species preselected for drought tolerance, water use effi ciency, and pest/pathogen resistance may contribute to a sustainable timber supply. The feasibility of growing dryland farm forestry crops was tested as follows: current input costs and market prices of timber products were obtained in a market survey; growth data from existing dryland experiments were used together with four silvicultural regimes as forest growth model inputs; the yields per forest product class were modelled; and the land expectation values were calculated per regime over a range of site qualities. Projections indicate the best returns where pole markets are available, or where sawtimber plus small-scale poles are produced. With appropriate regime selection, attractive financial returns can be achieved on moderately low site qualities.