Luena - The Forestry Development Institute (IDF) is encouraging the diversification of the timber market, with the exploitation of new species that are abundant in the country to stimulate the activity.
Speaking to the press on Friday, as part of a working visit to Moxico province, the director-general of the IDF, Simão Zau, reiterated that although there is still a ban on the exploitation of Mussive, there are other species that are equally valuable for this market.
To diversify this activity, he pointed to other species with high financial value, which can be traded in Asia and Europe.
Simão Zau recognized that the ban on the exploitation of Mussive has lowered the level of exploitation in the provinces of Moxico and Cuando-Cubango increasing unemployment of a considerable number of young people in these regions.
"We want to attract and encourage entrepreneurs to exploit wood from other species and to do this we need to make an inventory of the local forest," emphasized the IDF official.
In Moxico, four companies have been authorised to exploit an area of 20,000 cubic metres during the ongoing 2023/24 forestry campaign.
Angola has an estimated 53 million hectares of natural forest, corresponding to around half (43 percent) of the national territory, and has an estimated annual cutting capacity of 326,000 cubic metres of wood, thousands of tonnes of charcoal and firewood.
Of these 53 million hectares, Moxico province has 380,000 hectares, the second largest in the country after Cabinda. LTY/TC/YD/TED/AMP
