Botswana
Colombia
Finland
Guyana
Japan
Nepal
Sweden
Tanzania
United States of America
Zambia
· A staff member of FAO's Forestry and Forest Industries Division came across an unusual potential export crop while looking into the possibilities of bringing new elements to the Botswana economy. At a dinner given by a district officer he was served roast joint accompanied by "roast potatoes" which had an individual flavour strongly resembling that of mushroom. The "potatoes" were in fact truffles gathered in the Kalahari desert. The district officer's wife, a keen student of cooking, had observed that these desert truffles were part of the diet of the Bushmen.
In view of the fact that the Bushmen can produce a bucket of truffles in less than half an hour in season, and that truffles are currently worth their weight in silver in Europe, arrangements were made for a shipment to be sent to Rome for a proper investigation of their qualities and marketing prospects.
The shipment arrived in May, and some truffles were sent to one of Rome's leading international restaurants where the proprietor was asked for his opinion on what might be done with them in classical dishes. An experimental lunch was duly arranged for which three dishes were produced using the Botswana truffles instead of the usual Périgord black truffle. Everybody was delighted with what was served.
Gourmets the world over will no doubt await with interest the answers to such questions as how these truffles flourish in conditions so utterly different from the traditional zones where they are found in France and Italy, and just how much of the thousands of square kilometres of the Kalahari is a truffle-producing area. For the people of Botswana, and particularly the Bushmen, interest will be on the possibilities of establishing markets in Europe and North America, and on how to harvest the truffles without risking the dangers of undisciplined exploitation.
· By Decree No. 2420 of 24 September 1968 the Government announced a reorganization of the agricultural administration. The forestry sector is affected by the creation of an Institute for the Development of
Renewable Natural Resources. This will combine the functions of the Department of Natural Resources of the Ministry of Agriculture with the Corporación Autónoma Regional de los Valles del Magdelena y del Sinú which was hitherto responsible for the FAO-operated Special Fund project covering a Reinvestment study on forestry development, of which N. Sanchez-Mejorada is FAO Project Manager.
The new institute is a public body with full legal status, an autonomous administration and an independent budget. Its responsibilities will include control of the harvesting and marketing of forest products, the supervision of logging concessions, the delimitation and management of forest reserves and national parks, and the execution of reforestation operations. It will also cover fisheries, soil conservation and watershed management operations.
· During two trips to Finland in 1968, Nils A. Osara, Director of FAO's Forestry and Forest Industries Division, delivered a keynote address on the occasion of the golden jubilee of the Finnish Cellulose Union, under the heading "Wood and fibre in a changing world," and was the FAO representative in Helsinki at the 12th Congress of the International Union of Agricultural Journalists, speaking on "Forestry in a wind of change."
· Demerera greenheart, which is one of the principal exports of Guyana, has long been famous for its qualities as a dock timber. This formidably fire- and abrasion-resistant timber is ranked A.1 at Lloyd's, the insurance brokers, second only to teak. It is half again as heavy as oak, twice as hard, has twice the resistance to shock, and is about 140 percent stronger in its bending properties. Most important of all, greenheart is peculiarly resistant, and in salt waters almost impervious, to marine borers. In good years Guyana's exports of this timber may amount to some U.S.$3 million; in bad years, however, they may fall by 25 percent or more.
Ever singe the first cargo of greenheart was landed in 1770, the United Kingdom has been a traditional market, accounting for nearly 50 percent of exports. It is therefore natural that events there have considerable influence on the fortunes of the Guyana timber.
Economic restrictions certainly were largely responsible for the greenheart export trade having one of its worst years in 1967. Now a number of dock expansion works have been given the go-ahead, including a new tidal harbour for 100000 ton iron ore carriers in Wales. Greenheart has already been earmarked for fendering, and the timber trade is looking forward to better prospects in 1969.
A new set of definitive stamps includes this 24 cent denomination showing a lorry hauling logs - a reference to the growing importance of the timber industry to the islands. There are a number of logging companies operating in the area, mostly for the export of loge to Japan and Australia. Species extracted include Calophyllum, a medium light hardwood which has established itself as a peeler species and furniture wood.
· An interesting study, Experimental investigation on the performances of tractor-powered machines on the artificial forest lands of Japan, has been prepared by Sampei Yamawaki of the Government Forest Experiment Station's Laboratory for Forest Machinery.
The study is based on the results of many experiments carried out by Mr. Yamawaki under operational conditions. It discusses the general running performance of a crawler tractor on various types of forest land; and analyses in detail the operation of such tractor-mounted attachments as stump cutters, rotary cutters, earth augers, and dusters. It concludes with a discussion of the overall operational efficiency of reforestation operations using the implements described.
Originally published as Bulletin No. 213 of the Government Forest Experiment Station, the study has now been reprinted as a 162-page brochure.
· If the Abominable Snowman really does lurk in the Himalayas, there seems a fair chance that he will be positively identified, once and for all, during the next year. A young New Zealand naturalist and wildlife specialist who could never be fooled into identifying bear tracks as those of a yeti - and vice versa - is to spend 12 months in and around this legendary territory.
He has been assigned by FAO to make an ecological survey of Nepal's wild if e, particularly in the Trisuli basin where a large watershed development scheme is being carried out through a Special Fund project of which J. D. Devitt is FAO Project Manager. The Government is anxious to exploit the mountain kingdom's wildlife for tourism, but wants to ensure that any changes are not in conflict with other land uses, such as farming and forestry.
Nepal is the first country outside the African continent to plan the scientific management of its wildlife, a policy which FAO has encouraged to the point of setting up training colleges in Tanzania and Cameroon.
· Forestry all over the world has come under considerable economic pressure, and Swedish forestry is no exception. Evidence of the changes that have been brought about can be seen in the reduction in man-days per cubic metre felled in Sweden from 0.69 in 1957 to 0.28 in 1967. The corresponding reduction in the labour force has been drastic.
Reorganization of the Swedish Forest Service to adapt itself to these changing conditions has been going on for some time. In 1966 the Forest Service set itself the target of reducing the number of forest districts from 103 to 68, and the number of administrative units from 11 to 8, a target which was to be achieved by 1975. However, events have moved more rapidly, and the target will now be reached in 1969 in order to coordinate this reduction with a thorough reorganization of the central office which is to take effect on 1 January 1969.
The reorganized central office is to have five departments and an office, of the Director-General, to replace the present six offices, two independent departments and one secretariat.
The five new departments are respectively to be responsible for sales, operations, rationalization, economies, and personnel. The regional administrations, headed as hitherto by regional foresters, will each be organized into a general section, a technical section, a silvicultural section, an administrative section and, in some cases, a section for rights of usage.
The new structure implies the uniform adoption of a distribution of responsibilities according to functions, both in the central and in the regional administrations.
The Government of Ecuador is improving and expanding the facilities of the forestry training centre at Conocoto in order to meet the demands of the Forestry Administration for forest rangers and guards, and to train foremen and skilled workers for forest industries. The project, which is being undertaken with UNDP/FAO assistance, is also carrying out forestry extension programmes and establishing an experimental and demonstration forest. Here, the FAO Project Manager, R. Clopes Bois, explains to students how the life history of a tree can be determined by examining a freshly cut stump.
United States of America. Giant redwoods in morning light.
U.S. FOREST SERVICE
· Tanzania has taken a big step toward utilizing its wild animal resources by appointing a company to harvest and market game animals for human consumption. The company has selected nine species as potentially marketable: zebra, hartebeeste, eland, impala, buffalo, giraffe, Grant's and Thomson's gazelles, and gnu. Harvesting on the Loliondo plains has already begun and will extend to other areas later.
The main objective is to provide relatively cheap meat for protein-starved Africans. The game meat will be marketed in fresh, frozen, or dried condition. Some of it will also be exported, and the United States is regarded as being a potentially large market.
Patrick Hemingway, a member of the FAO staff at the Mweka College of African Management, Tanzania, has made several experiments with game meat. He finds canned Thomson's gazelle comparable to the finest-quality canned tuna. He claims that served with a cold mayonnaise salad it would be a gourmet's treat to threaten Scotland's canned grouse.
· For 50 years conservationists have been fighting to save the giant redwoods of northern California and Oregon. The durable lumber of the redwood is highly prized for its structural and decorative uses, and the battle to date has gone to the chainsaw. Where there were once 2 million acres (800000 hectares) of virgin redwood forest, only 250000 (100000 hectares) stand today.
In September 1968 the conservationists won a significant victory when Congress passed a bill establishing the nation's first Redwood National Forest. The new national park, which will open to campers and hikers in a few years, comprises 58000 acres (23000 hectares) along the northern California coast in Humboldt and Del Norte counties. Half the area comes from three small state forests, and the Federal Government will complete the park by buying up land in between the state forests from timber compares and private individuals. The park will contain 32500 acres (13000 hectares) of virgin redwood forest, including the world's tallest tree (367 feet or 110 metres) as well as the second, third and sixth tallest.
· As an aid to systematic forest management in Latin America, the Forest Service has sponsored publication of a new dictionary of forestry terms in Spanish. The book, Terminología Forestal, has been published by the Madrid Forest Research Institute under an agreement with the Forest Service as a contribution to international forestry cooperation.
· As part of its centennial year proceedings, the University of California organized in June 1968 an international conference on "The role of the professional as an agent of economic, social and political change in low-income countries. "Jack C. Westoby, Deputy Director of FAO's Forestry and Forest Industries Division, was invited to participate and read a paper entitled "The forester as an agent of change."
· In September 1968, the World Bank (IBRD) made a loan of $5.3 million to the Government of Zambia for financing part of a long-term afforestation programme, the first such undertaking which the Bank has supported. The loan covers the first eight years of the programme and will finance the establishment of some 16000 hectares of fast-growing plantations, mainly pines. The primary purpose of the plantations is to meet Zambia's domestic demands for industrial wood, particularly in the Copperbelt region. Zambia is at present a substantial net importer of forest products, its indigenous forests being slow-growing and incapable of meeting the country's wood demands.
The total cost of the project is estimated at some $11 million and the Bank loan will cover the foreign exchange component. Local currency requirements are being met by the Government of Zambia. The loan will be for a period of 25 years with a 10-year grace period and an interest rate of 6½ percent.
The project will be managed by the Industrial Plantations Division of the Forestry Department, in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism. The FAO/IBRD Cooperative Programme assisted the Forestry Department in preparing a report on the project for presentation for Bank financing. The scheme is also related to a Special Fund feasibility study being undertaken in Zambia on the development of forest industries, of which the FAO Project Manager is L. Kalkkinen.
FORESTS FOOD AND PEOPLE
Freedom from Hunger Campaign - Basic Study No. 20
Forests, food and people is the twentieth volume in a series of studies published by FAO and other United Nations Agencies as background material for World Food Congresses. The series seeks to set out in simple and concise terms the social, economic and technical problems of the war against hunger, and is aimed specifically at laymen and the general public, especially groups wishing to discuss these problems.
This study, written by a former Deputy Director of FAO's Forestry and Forest Industries Division, Henry Beresford-Peirse, examines the maintenance of an ecological equilibrium between lands given over to agriculture, grazing and forests. The preservation of such an equilibrium, and its reestablishment when disturbed, are worldwide problems which are basic to any discussion on increasing food supplies in relation to the expanding human population.
Forests, food and people. Freedom from Hunger Campaign Basic Study No. 20. Available in English, French or Spanish through FAO Sales Agents or from FAO Distribution and Sales Section, Rome, Italy. Price $1.00 or 8s.
