Promotion Of Intra-African Trade In Timber And Timber Products

ABSTRACT 

The objectives of this report are to:

Examine the development and current state of the Nigerian timber market with reference to the production and consumption as well as availability of TTPs (in volume and value);

Examine the development and current state of imports of TTPs to Nigeria, their distribution channels, end uses and the share of TTPs from Africa;

Analyse the internal and external environment of the tropical timber market to identify constraints to the expansion of imports of TTPs from other African countries.

Identify strategies to overcome the constraints, and key players who could help remove those constraints, as well as regional initiatives that could help boost intra-African timber trade.

B. National Context

Nigeria with a population of about 140 million people and a growth rate of 2.38% is the most populous country in Africa. Nigeria has a land area of 91.08 million hectares and about 11.09 million hectares of forest (FAO 2007), which is just about 12% of the total land area. This forest land is largely savannah woodland with limited commercial potential.

There are two broad vegetation zones: the forest zone, which occurs in a belt 50 to 250 km wide adjacent to the Atlantic coast; and the savannah zone to the north, which can be divided into the wetter Guinea zone and the drier Sudan zone (FAO 2005).

About 70% of the natural forest is open tree savannah, with the remaining 30% closed forest. The closed forest includes mangrove and coastal forest (22%), fresh water swamp (38%) and lowland wet forest (40%). The latter type (also called high forest’) is divided into lowland rainforest in the south and mixed deciduous forest to the north. These forest types, although heavily degraded, are the main remaining sources of hardwood timber but cover only about 2%

3

of the total land area. Meliaceae and Leguminosae species such as Khaya ivorensis (Lagos mahogany), Entandrophragma spp, Lovoa trichilioides (cedar) and Gosweilerodendron balsamiferum (agba) are characteristic of the rainforest area, whereas Sterculiaceae, Ulmaceae and Moraceae species such as Nesogordonia papaverifera (otutu), Triplochiton scleroxylon (obeche), Celtis spp and Chlorophora excelsa (iroko) characterize semi-deciduous forests. Riparian forests are the only closed forest in the savanna zone, characterized by species such as Mitragyna ciliata and Uapaca spp. Most of Nigeria’s forests are so heavily degraded that in some areas secondary forest succession is impeded.