G$20M kiln drying facility commissioned in Berbice

The Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) has commissioned a G$20 million kiln drying facility at Crabwood Creek, Berbice. The initiative, a joint effort by the GFC and the Upper Corentyne Kiln Dryers’ Association, was commissioned on Monday.

The project has been partly supported by the International Tropical Timber Organisation. Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud said that the initiative represents modernisation and the use of improved technology from some of the country’s important sectors, which will take the country to the modern level required by international standards.

“This is a clear manifestation of where our government wants to take this country, and that vision is to have a very strong value-added sector… In fact, what we are doing is denying the country and producers of close to about 50 per cent of its true value (when we export wood that is not kiln dried),” the Government Information Agency (GINA) quoted him as saying. Persaud noted that if Guyana is to export kiln-dried lumber, it can attract a market price of US$1000 per cubic metre, compared to US$600 currently being received.

He said that the government is seeking to get maximum value for the nation’s resources, and this is necessary if the desired level of living standard is to be achieved. He noted that the forest management and the vision for the forestry sector are reflected in the visionary Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).

“This investment here is advancing the goals and objectives because, within the LCDS, it is not about stopping the use of our forest resources, or stop extracting timber, as some may want to suggest… but it is about ensuring that when we use these resources, we use them in a way that future generations can also benefit,” the minister added.        

While making reference to the climate change conference currently being held in Cancún, Mexico, he said while Guyana’s president is lobbying for compensation for the ecological resources of the country’s forest, uses can still be made of the country’s timber resources.           

He also said that the potential revenues that can be earned from its ecological service would be more than what is currently being garnered per annum from the country’s traditional export sectors. “In Guyana, we have what I would call the green gold, and what we are seeking to do here today is to further that and to provide opportunities to the timber sector that did not exist,” he said. 

Developments

According to the minister, Region Six currently accounts for 20 per cent of the country’s output, since the region has one of the highest ratios of persons involved in concessions and has access to state forest permits. He stated that farming activities have been increasing in the area over the years, and, as such, government will continue to expend resources to improve farming activities and to bring about better farming conditions. While giving an update on the G$300 million rehabilitation programmes recently embarked upon by the NDIA, he said that work is 80 per cent complete, noting that due to massive interventions by the administration, farmers are returning to their lands.

“We are doing this because we want the economic development of our country to best able while at the same time we utilise the resources of our country,” Persaud said.