Can Smallholder Tree Farmers Help Revive the Timber Industry in Deforested Tropical Countries? A Case Study from Southern Philippines - Smallholder Tree Growing for Rural Development and Environmental Services - page 175

4.0 ft (although 3.0 ft can be accepted but at an even lower price) and 12 cm small-
end diameter. However, 37 percent of the respondents reported that they are willing
to pay farmers a stumpage price PhP 1.0 to 2.0 bd.ft. −1 higher for straight logs with
16 to 18 cm small-end diameter and 8.0 ft long. Timber planks of this size are used
for furniture and house construction.
Other factors influencing the price of farm-grown timber are the size and quality
of the log, which ultimately determine the end use. Sawn timber used for furniture
and house construction is graded into three categories: A (planks 8.0 ft long without
knots); B (6.0ft long with some knots); and C (4.0ft long, knotty). Prices vary
accordingly: PhP 11.0 or 12.0 for category A; PhP 9.0 or 10.0 for category B; PhP
7.0 or 8.0 for category C. For veneer, timber price also depends on log size. In the
year 2002, prices ranged from PhP 3.0 bd.ft. −1 for logs 26 to 28 cm in diameter, to
PhP 6.0 bd.ft. −1 for logs with diameter 60 cm and larger. There is no price premium
for quality timber that is bought by truckload. In the region, there is no active coop-
erative or local organization engaged in timber marketing. This is unfortunate as
farmers and sawmill owners interviewed reported that the price of round timber at
mill gate is around 50 percent higher than the current average stumpage price of PhP
4.0 bd.ft. −1 . As Anyonge and Roshetko (2003) indicated, tree growers would certainly
benefit from the development of cooperatives and farmer groups that transfer econo-
mies of scale of timber production to smallholdings by facilitating the marketing of
farm-grown timber. However, the 16 SSS surveyed had a total of 65 operational
mini-sawmills 6 (56 percent of the SSS operates only one or two mini-sawmills and
32 percent have a capacity of three or four mini-sawmills). According to the survey
respondents, in a regular eight hour working day and with an average recovery rate
of 45 percent a mini-sawmill produces between 700 to 1,000 bd.ft. of sawn timber
of gmelina or 1,000-1,600 bd.ft. of falcata. Considering that of the 16 SSS visited
only 45 percent operate continuously and using an average production of 1,000 bd.
ft. of sawn wood per mini-sawmill per day, with the existing sawmill capacity (135
mini-sawmills) an estimated 45,000 to 53,617m 3 of farm-grown sawn wood was
produced every year in Region 10 since 1996. And with the reported average recov-
ery rate of 45 percent, a conservative estimate of smallholder log production in
Region 10 is that of 65,250 to 77,745 m 3 year −1 . Assuming a continuous operation of
mini-sawmills, the potential annual log utilization would be 111,064 m 3 year −1 , and
the potential sawn timber production 76,596 m 3 year −1 . If compared to the available
statistics of the sawn wood exports from the Cagayan de Oro port (Table 8.1) and
considering that, unknown, but probably large volumes of sawn timber are con-
sumed locally, we can conclude that these are very conservative estimates of the
contribution of smallholder farmers to the wood industry in the region. Nevertheless,
it represents about 10 percent to 14 percent of the domestic consumption of tropical
sawn wood timber in 1996 (539,000 m 3 ) reported by ITTO (1996).
6 Mini-sawmill is a sawmill consisting of a single head rig with a flywheel diameter not exceeding
106 cm, a band saw blade with thickness not exceeding 3.0 mm and width of not more than 27 mm,
with or without a carriage, and a daily rated capacity of no more than 18 m 3 or 8,000 board feet of
lumber per eight hour shift (DENR 1996a).