5. Current status of national forestry statistics related to wood products

The Ministry of Agriculture is the responsible ministry for giving cutting permits of different wood products and controlling the movement of wood products at different checkpoints. The amount and type of locally harvested wood products, which pass the checkpoint, is registered and reported to the zone branch ministry office every week.

Usually reports concerning wood production are sent from the regional offices of the MOA to the head office at national level quarterly, every six months and annually. These data is analysed and compiled in the Division of Forestry and Wildlife.

Wood products, which are imported, are registered at the customs office. The division of Forestry and Wildlife asks the custom’s office at least once a year to analyse and compile it accordingly.

In regard to the imported wood products, the Ministry of Finance through its custom office is in charge of data collection and dissemination. The date on imported wood is obtained in terms of local value. The approximate price of the products is used to convert the values in quantitative units. Information on imported wood products could be also obtained from the National Bank of Eritrea, as importers need to open letters of credit (LC) in this bank in order to import goods, hence it could also be used as a means of validation.

Firewood at local level is usually collected and transported to the nearest depot by camels or donkeys. At each depot, there are licensed firewood concessionaires, which buy and transport the wood to the urban centres. These concessionaires have weighing balance at each depot and the amount they bought is registered. The branch of the Ministry of Agriculture at the sub zone level are always monitor and report the amount of wood collected, since the royalty fees are paid based on the amount of wood collected.

The amount of wood, which are collected and utilised at the local level in the rural areas, is difficult to record. In such cases, therefore, the Ministry of Energy and Mines conducts household energy survey by taking samples in the rural households and any interested person or institution can make use of the output of the study.

There are similar problems with the consumption of poles for house construction in the rural areas. In those, which are harvested from the naturally grown trees in the forest or woodland, the users have to ask permit either from the village administrator or nearby office of the Ministry of Agriculture. However, if they are using from their own plantation, they do not need any permit, and thus is difficult to record it in the wood product statistics.

Saw logs for the currently functioning four old sawmills are obtained from Eucalyptus plantation, which are privately owned or from the community plantations. These sawmills are located in Asmara, and any trucks carrying wood products has to be weighed in the municipal truck weighing balance in Asmara, thus the amount of saw logs is well recorded in this station.

Ministries, Institutions, and Organisations, which involve in one way and the other way, in the collection, analysis and dissemination of wood related products are Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Energy and

Mines, Ministry of Finance (Customs Office), National Bank of Eritrea, Municipal Offices (City/Town Councils), and Board of Eritrean Standards.

The importance of wood products in Eritrea can be classified into two, i.e. the domestic products and the imported ones. From the locally produced wood products, fuel wood is the most important one followed by pole production for house construction and sow logs from Eucalyptus plantation. All these products are consumed locally as the demand for these wood products in the country is high comparing to the supply. On the other hand, sawn timber has the highest significance followed by Wood-Based Panels and Printing + Writing paper. This is because most of the requirements of sawn timber/lumber are fulfilled from imported material as the locally produced Eucalyptus timber covers only the demand for wooden boxes for carrying fruits and vegetables.