SMALL and medium scale operators in the forest industry have been urged to “cash in” on numerous incentives which exist for the development of a robust value-added sub-sector for the industry.

Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment (MNR&E), Robert Persaud said that based on the records for the year to date it appeared that many of the operators who could benefit are unaware of the incentives available.
He said for example that for 2014 to date; there had only been 40 persons who have applied for duty free concessions for equipment and even among these applicants there was not much bias in the area of value-added activities but a lot of it in terms of primary timber production.
He said that the Ministry had created the enabling environment for production of value-added forestry products and was prepared to work with all operators to ensure Guyana’s success in moving beyond raw timber and sawn-wood extraction to more income and employment generating value-added exports.
He made these observations and comments during the opening ceremony of a seminar on Friday organised by the Forest Products Development and Marketing Council (FPDMC) aimed at bringing operators in the sub-sector up-to-date with the incentives and investment opportunities for value added processing within the sector.
The venue of the one-day event was the Multiplex of the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) in Kingston Georgetown and speakers at the opening included Mr. Rajnarine Singh, Executive Director of the FPDMC, Mr. Khalawan of the Forestry Producers Association (FPA) Mr. Clinton Williams of the Guyana Manufacturer’s and Services Association (GMSA) Dr. Alhassan Attah International Consultant and Mr. James Singh, Commissioner of the GFC.

The participants comprised businessmen involved in the production of value-added wood products including manufacturers of shingles, furniture and components of furniture, flooring, paneling and siding.
Persaud said that it was recognised long ago that Guyana must maximise the value it receives from its forestry resources if the industry is to be sustainable and truly contribute to the national economy.
He said: “If you look at the National Competitiveness Strategy if you look at the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) there are specific elements that speak to supporting value added in the forestry sector.”
The LCDS in fact looks at a mechanism within an allocated fund arrangement where specific and dedicated support is available particularly for small and medium scale operators to engage in value-added production.
He said: “So the notion and concept of value added is not something that we pulled out thin air. But we needed to have the enabling environment; training for operators; supporting investors in terms of having valued-added as a primary focus and not just the extraction and export of raw timber.”
He said Government had taken concrete and significant steps to create the enabling environment in the form of a very comprehensive and very attractive regime for supporting value added within the sector, hence the importance of the seminar to educate the operators and stakeholders on the incentives they can access.
The programme of the one-day seminar included presentations by representatives of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), GOINVEST, the National Insurance Scheme, the FPDMC and the International Consultant.
The GRA presentation was done by Radandra Singh, Assistant Commissioner who highlighted the tax concessions that are available to operators involved in adding value to forestry products.
Investment Facilitation Officer of GOINVEST, Mr. Shawn Doris spoke on forestry sector incentives and investment opportunities that are available and the methodology for applying for these incentives.
The National Insurance Scheme (NIS) representatives Dianne Lewis Baxter and Nicholas Yearwood spoke on the need for compliance within the sector with NIS regulations in order to access benefits offered by other Government agencies as well as worker protection.
FPDMC Product Development Officer, Laura Singh spoke on the Council’s strategic product development and promotion outlook.
And participants were allowed to ask questions and make recommendations and to generally share ideas on how to move the sub-sector forward.
Persaud acknowledged that the high cost of energy was a main deterrent to value-added production of forestry products.
He said that the potential for value-added in the forestry sector is tremendous but until and unless the issue of energy, particularly relatively inexpensive hydro-electricity, is effectively addressed, progress will be limited.
He said: “We have developed the enabling environment and let’s hope that in the near future that we are able to deal with the critical constraint of energy.”

(By Clifford Stanley)