FORESTRY

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The Forestry Project will increase outputs of forest products by introducing a long-term forest development strategy, modernizing management practices of existing forest lands and increasing the area under forest to meet long run demand from forest based industries, thereby increasing foreign exchange earnings and promoting economic growth. The project will support these objectives by: (i) the establishment of about 150,000 ha of new plantation forest by expanding on-going afforestation programs; (ii) providing credit for pilot scale integrated extraction, forest management and marketing operations by associations or cooperatives of small private forest owners; and (iii) providing technical assistance and training to: (a) establish a forest extension service and train forest extensionists; and (b) carryout an in-depth study of the forestry subsector to improve existing private and balbios (communal lands) forests and to help define a long-term strategy for the development of forests and forest based industries. Project implementation will be coordinated by a Project Coordination Unit, which is to be fully staffed as a condition of effectiveness.