By the FRENCH DELEGATION
IN the semitropical zone France administers large territories which offer a wide variety of forest types. Some forest areas, especially Indo-China, are rich and have mature timber ready for felling but as local requirements are considerable because of the dense population, these supplies will not materially affect the world output of timber. In other countries, for instance in Madagascar, cutting operations on a large scale must be carried out wisely and with all possible care, so as to avoid the disastrous consequences of too great a clearing of the island. The whole central section of Africa situated between the Sahara and the equatorial forest area is covered with tropical dry forests of Sahelian and Sudanese type, which, apart from their influence on climate and soil, are of merely local economic importance.
In view of all these factors, the Plan for the Development of Colonial Timber Production has been limited, in its first stage, to those of the more accessible forest areas which could provide large quantities of exportable timber, i.e., the Gold Coast, the Cameroons, Gabon, and Middle Congo.
To get an exact idea of the present state of forestry in Africa and to prepare a plan for the development of timber production, it is necessary to consider some statistics relative to exports from these territories.
Large-scale felling in the vast tropical forests was started only at the beginning of the twentieth century, but by 1913 already it had developed considerably. At that time, exports from the Gold Coast and Gabon amounted to 203,000 tons. After World War I, exports were resumed with 93,000 tons being shipped in 1920. In 1924, including the output from the Cameroons, exports exceeded 300,000 tons; in 1927, they stood at 500,000 tons; and in 1937 they reached a peak of 580,000 tons. In 1938 they dropped to 390,000 tons. From that year until 1945, output was considerably reduced due to war and the consequent isolation of the colonial territories. Since then, there has been slow but steady progress, retarded by the difficulties of extracting timber and by the shortage of logging equipment.
From 1920 until 1938, despite serious economic crises, exports never fell below 300,000 tons, and before the war timber management formed, on the whole, a stable and important branch of the African economy.
Nearly all exports came from the West Coast of Africa and mainly from Gabon, the source of okoumé, Aucoumea Klaineana Pierre (200,000 to 400,000 metric tons of okoumé logs per year from 1925 to 1937). Exports from the Ivory Coast varied from 40,000 to 50,000 metric tons, but in 1937 they rose to a high of 85,000 tons. The output of the Cameroons stood at 30,000 to 50,000 metric tons.
The two main types of exports, representing 80 per cells of total shipment, were mahogany Khaya spp., and okoumé, and it is important to note that, except for okoumé, felling operations in Africa were mainly concerned with wood for production of veneer.
Raft of okoumé logs floating down a river in Gabon
The question may be asked as to why the yield of timber is so small in relation to the forest area. Briefly, the answer to this question and at the same time the reasons for the partial failure of efforts to increase forest development in French equatorial territories are as follows:
1) The mixed nature and relative poverty of tropical forests has been the cause of high costs in felling operations. These costs, to which heavy freight charges must be added, necessitated high selling prices, so that operations became limited to luxury and specialty woods which did not compete with timber grown in France or easily imported.2) The restricted market was due to the fact that high prices limited the quantity of timber which could be extracted profitably and it was, therefore, difficult to balance output and consumption. Lack of expansion in African timber production was not due to restricted felling, but to an insufficient demand for tropical woods.
3) The relative poverty of the forest which is responsible for high felling costs will certainly be minimized when the range of species worth cutting is extended. With more normal prices and expanding markets, the vicious circle of prewar times may be avoided. Since the Timber Conference is now aiming at these solutions, it may be wondered why forest management has not already been set up on these bases.
The reason for this is simple and lies in the difficulty of selling the more common types of wood in the open market. This was difficult for several reasons, but chiefly to technical difficulties in conversion caused by the properties of common woods which are apt to be either too hard or too soft. Lack of equipment, particularly sawmills, and lack of knowledge concerning treatment, drying and preservation of timber forced a reduction in the number of usable softwood species, so that only hard and semihard woods could be economically utilized. On the one hand, 85 percent of the world's industrial requirements consist of soft and semihard timber, principally of coniferous species; on the other hand, woodworkers meet with serious difficulties in the processing of hard and semihard tropical timbers. The mechanical properties of some woods are of too low a grade. for certain uses. All of these factors, plus the resistance of buyers to strange woods, explain the difficulties encountered in putting the more abundant colonial species on the market.
Any colonial equipment plan concerned with felling and conversion of timber, has naturally to take into consideration actual forest resources. These resources depend on two factors:
1) Estimation of "economically accessible" forest areas.2) Marketable species available from the total growing stocks. In those areas in which we are interested, the Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Gabon, and Middle Congo, the equatorial forests of primary and secondary type cover some 40 to 50 million hectares.
In 1942, the readily usable stands of the Ivory Coast were estimated by Mr. Aubréville at 2 million hectares. Mr. Grandclément, chief of the Forest Service of the Cameroons, now estimates this territory at 2.4 million hectares. The forest areas of French Equatorial Africa which could be worked during the first period of management and mechanization may be estimated at about 5 million hectares. Working plans, therefore, must be based on an area of 8 to 10 million hectares of forest where there is easy access by existing transport means and where extraction is feasible.
As to resources, calculations have been based on a list of 40 species, many of which have not yet been put on the market but which might be suitable for lumber or could be used as ordinary framewood, boxwood, etc.
Since primary and secondary forest areas are more or less equivalent in the Cameroons, the average figure of available timber is 27 m³ or about 21 tons per hectare, and it is estimated that approximately fifty years after the first felling, growing stocks will again be ready for exploitation with a yield equal to the first.
According to these calculations, therefore, logging operations on a fifty-year rotation basis, counting on an annual output of 20 tons of timber per hectare (on one-fiftieth of the accessible forest area), can safely be considered. However, this low estimate could be increased according to market trends and to buyers, requirements.
The figures which have been set correspond to the total output that could be reached in three years time, but it is obvious that higher figures will be attained in the future on the basis of technical and commercial experience gained during that period.
The program for the operations of sawmills has been fixed as follows:
300,000 m³ per annum for the Ivory Coast
500,000 m³ per annum for the Cameroons
440,000 m³ per annum for French Equatorial Africa (Gabon-Middle Congo)
The program for plywood output has been drafted as follows:
30,000 m³ for the Ivory Coast
50,000 m³ for the Cameroons
75,000 m³ for French Equatorial Africa
The realization of an extensive program for the manufacture of wallboards has been postponed owing to the scarcity of available industrial and commercial information. The immediate setting-up of one unit of 10,000 tons in Gabon is under consideration.
Finally, the program for the production of exportable logs has been planned as follows:
300,000 tons for French Equatorial Africa
100,000 tons for the Cameroons
150,000 tons for the Ivory Coast
The technicians who have drawn up this plan have taken into account the fact that the timber operators will mainly tend to export logs for sliced and rotary-cut veneer at high selling prices. However, such logs are not always abundant and, as we have seen, markets are limited. Therefore, regulation of work (cahiers de charges) must (for silvicultural reasons) determine the proportion of species to be cut and, in particular, the maximum of high grade timber which may be cut, taking into account the amounts of low grade timber to be used mostly in the sawmills.
Since mechanical processing of timber requires very specific physical and mechanical qualities in the raw material used, the range of usable species is apt to be limited. It was thought at first that only chemical conversion would be able to absorb the timber output of tropical forests, thus allowing the complete extraction of these heterogeneous stands.
Further studies have shown, however, that this is not always the case; requirements for certain industries, such as the manufacture of chemical pulp and hydrolysis of wood, are as high as those for mechanical conversions in regard to the quality of wood which they are able to use.
However, with regard to pulp, French requirements are urgent and research work has been continued.
Owing to the present state of colonial forestry resources and because of the methods employed in paper manufacture and forestry the establishment of mechanical pulp factories does not seem to be practicable in French African territories.
Past studies in regard to chemical pulp have shown that though it is premature to consider building factories capable of as large an output as 100,000 tons per year, there is reasonable hope that this will be achieved in time. It is therefore necessary to consider the forestry problem on an industrial scale and to proceed with the establishment of pilot plants which might require subsidies in order to carry out forestry methods designed to provide them with a regular supply of timber. This might justify the establishment of a 30,000-ton plant in the Gabon.
With regard to semichemical pulp, the establishment of more or less profitable factories is now possible, but the total capacity should be limited to sure market possibilities which are estimated at about 60,000 tons for the present. It is therefore planned to set up three factories, each capable of producing 20,000 tons of semichemical pulp. One factory would be on the Ivory Coast, another in the Cameroons, and the third in Gabon.
The other chemical wood industries are not to be included in any short-term plan because research must still be continued on hydrolysis, partial distillation and synthesis of alcohol. In any case, they will be limited by the possibilities of obtaining the wood of all grades at very low prices.
Research. - A plan has been approved for the establishment of a Research Institute for Tropical Forestry. It provides for the setting-up of a large research center, as well as a documentation center and teaching center, in France and also for the establishment of forestry stations and laboratories in the colonies.
Forestry Work. - Large-scale felling in the tropical forests will inevitably reduce the valuable species. Because of the great variety of species, clearings made by the extraction of the best are usually invaded by the less valuable ones. It will be necessary, therefore, to take action in order to maintain or to increase the value of the forest.
Tropical forestry raises technical problems, solution of which is rather difficult in view of the lengthy experimental work involved. However, work already carried out, sometimes on quite a large scale, has provided a basis for drawing interesting conclusions and for the establishing of a general improvement program.
Mr. Aubréville was assigned to study this question while on a mission in the various forest regions of Africa, but his report has not been published. However, some general information which it gives on Gabon and the Ivory Coast and Cameroons is summarized below.
Gabon. - Due to the particular characteristics of okoumé, it would be possible in 50 years to convert 2 million hectares of Gabonese forest so as to achieve an annual yield of 8 million cubic meters of okoumé. This work would entail conversion of 40,000 hectares per year. Such a program would require 10,000 workers, 80 European foresters, and in addition native help recruited locally. The annual expenses might total 60 million French francs at the rate of exchange in August 1945.
Ivory Coast and Cameroons. - Forestry problems are very similar in both these territories but quite different from those of Gabon because of the absence of okoumé in these regions.
An improvement program of 800,000 hectares in 20 years, i.e., 40,000 hectares yearly, would mean a future yearly output of 2.5 million cubic meters. This would require about 8,000 workers.
The technical problems have been studied without regard to financial and labor requirements. It is almost certain that the programs outlined will not be carried out in their entirety largely because of the lack of labor.
It is important, however, to stress the necessity of maintaining and even increasing the forestry resources by improvement measures.
It has been estimated that the actual manpower needed in the three colonies containing the largest forest areas to carry out the Plan most efficiently would be at least 15,000 workers for the Ivory Coast, 10,000 workers for the Cameroons, and 10,000 workers for the Gabon and Middle Congo, making a total of 35,000 workers.
There remains the working out of measures to
1) maintain the existing manpower in the working areas;
2) to increase the number of these workers;
3) to increase their efficiency.
Generally speaking, the most important measures will be the following:
1) the establishment of a wage scale based on employment categories and related to the living costs in each colony and to the increasing needs of the native population; bonuses should also be considered;2) application of social legislation;
3) improvement of working conditions by intensive mechanization together with the necessary training of workers;
4) improvement of living standards of the native population and increase of their purchasing power by supplying the territories with ordinary commodities and industrial products.
It became imperative to create an organization which would set up and finance the Plan for the Development of Colonial Timber Production. The creation of a French company the National Corporation for Tropical Woods, under the direction of the Minister of French Overseas Territories, was provided for in the law of 30 April 1946. The objectives of this corporation are to create conditions in French West Africa, the Cameroons, and French Equatorial Africa under which forest production can be developed according to the Plan in order to satisfy the needs of the mother-country and the world market and, finally, in order to increase to the maximum production efficiency.
In order to achieve these aims, the corporation will be independently empowered to exercise directly or to centralize certain functions of an administrative or professional character. The necessary powers will be delegated to it. The corporation, on the advice of local committees and with the approval of the Minister of French Overseas Territories, will determine in particular the allocation of foreign currency and equipment granted to effect the Plan.
The organization will also make arrangements for obtaining and making available the public services necessary to the working of this plan. It will ensure the establishment and management of installations essential to forest production. This board will be consulted in various matters, such as modification of forest regulations, rights and taxes, transportation charges, warehousing and handling costs, creation or expansion of enterprises, etc.
The corporation will be directed by a governing body and an executive board in Paris and will have local committees within the agencies of the various territories and districts - the Ivory Coast, Cameroons, Gabon, and Middle Congo. The governing body will consist of representatives of the government and representatives of professional interests. A director general proposed by this body will be appointed by the Minister of French Overseas Territories. The local committees within the agencies will be constituted in the same way and will be presided over by the Chief of the Forest Service of each colony.
In order to become established, the corporation will have to receive an appropriation from the Fund for Investment and Economic and Social Development. Other expenses will be covered as follows: for publicity, by special taxes on exportation of forest products, and for the building up of public services by special appropriations. The financing of all other operations will be assured either by the usual credits or by compliance with the Decree of 24 October 1946 applying the above-mentioned law of 30 April 1946.
This scheme, which has been fully approved and accepted by the representatives of the interests of all concerned, will make it possible to carry out the Plan under very favorable conditions.
It is obvious that it is not enough to produce wood: one has to assure its transportation to a port, its loading, and its overseas shipment. The over-all program of major projects was established with particular regard to the forestry program.
On the Ivory Coast, it has been decided to develop the Abidjan harbor, to create a wharf at Sassandra and a floating pier at Assinia, to build roads and a canal through the lagoons, and to purchase equipment for coastal trade. In the Cameroons, the Douala harbor will first of all be equipped with modern machinery for the handling of wood and with a large wood storage yard. Later on, it will be enlarged. The shipping of timber from the regions of Eseka, Edea and Mbalmoyo will require extension of the railway system. Kribi harbor, the outlet of an important forest belt, will be similarly equipped.
In French Equatorial Africa the immediate building of a well-equipped wharf at Orwendo is necessary to permit the unloading of equipment essential to the carrying out of the production program of this region. The renewal of landing, loading, harbor, and lighter-age facilities, the creation of a large wood storage yard and a network of communicating roads, and the building up of a common headquarters will be effected simultaneously.
A similar program is planned at Port Gentil and especially the erection of a wharf at Akosso Point. At Pointe-Noire, which already has a fairly well-equipped harbor, the only improvements will be to increase the number of cranes and add a wood storage yard. The rolling-stock of Ocean-Congo Railroad will be increased.
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This plan for the development of forest production is only a first step and indeed a very modest one. If the French Government has evaded the drawing up at present of a more ambitious plan, it has acted with wise caution for the reasons set forth above.
With their present experience and knowledge and taking into account the world situation of the different wood-producing and wood-consuming countries, the French technicians, who are fully aware of all the technical, social, and commercial difficulties they are facing, are confident that they will be able to carry out this plan and also find an outlet for the materials produced. The possibilities of the forest allow us to consider a second part to this scheme, but it will be studied in detail and put into effect only when markets can be assured in a normal economy for the whole supply of available products. That will be the case when the processing and utilization of such a complex raw material as tropical wood will have been perfected, and when intelligent publicity will have shown consumers the world over how to put it to the best use.
