THE KWAKWANI Natural Resources Organization (KNRO), one of two logging associations based in Kwakwani (Upper Demerara/ Upper Berbice) does not plan to stop giving needed assistance to the community despite undergoing various challenges in the logging industry. The association that was established in 2012 has already spent a total of $30 million on community projects according the Secretary Kelvin Daly. The last community project undertaken by the association was the constructing of a guard hut for a school in the community located at the bank of the Berbice River.
Other community projects undertaken by the association was the granting of scholarships to students, the remunerating of part-time teachers, hosting Christmas parties, purchasing of equipment for schools and an ambulance for the hospital.
The logging association has a membership of 50 loggers who are all residents of Kwakwani but practice their livelihood in various logging districts. They willingly donate a percentage of their profit to the association for the execution of these community projects.
According to Daly, logging is currently on a low scale but the loggers continue to contribute. He revealed that the deplorable state of the roads especially the one connecting Linden to Kwakwani was a deterrent to the timely provision of the logs to the market. “If you travel one day on the trail, you will see two to three trucks broken down on the road…..it is in a terrible state,” he bemoaned. In addition Kelvin said that market sourcing is very difficult and loggers were forced to sell their product at an inexpensive cost hence the profit margin was very low.
Give us more land
The loggers are calling on the Government of Guyana to provide not only their association but others with more land rather than to give these to foreign investors. “If you give us more land, not only to KNRO, but to all the associations we will be able to provide logs to these big companies….the opportunity should be given to the small loggers and they can supply the big companies,” Daly argued. He posited that they had not been receiving much assistance from the Government but continued to make the best of what was available.
Value added products
President Granger on his last visit to Linden encouraged Kwakwani loggers to add value to the wood rather than to export the raw material. He revealed that the shift in economic activities in these communities could be a pillar for value added production. “This region is rich in potential but the wealth is leaving the country because we are exporting raw materials instead of processing those materials here. Think about furniture factories rather than exporting raw wood you can export furniture,” he exclaimed.
Mr. Daly commenting on this suggestion said that while value added production was good, the furniture would not reach its destination undamaged. In addition to the road issue, he stressed that marketing would be another issue as the buyers would demand high quality production and Kwakwani was not equipped with a furniture or any other wood factory. ‘If the Government provides a factory it would be good but when we talk about value- added the loggers would only go as far as dress lumber for flooring, said Daly.
Though the various challenges are faced by the loggers and the industry may be suffering, the association is nowhere close to giving up as it is the main source of income for many households.