MANY in the timber industry believe that plantation forests are the solution to the shortage of timber supplies if Malaysia wants to remain a timber-based exporting country. 

Malaysian Nature Society president Datuk Dr Salleh Mohd Nor said the future of the country’s timber industry lies in its ability to switch to plantation forests.  

“Trees are biological resources that can be grown. It has been proven that productivity in a plantation forest is higher than a natural forest given the right silvicultural technologies. Furthermore, advancement in wood production technologies have broadened the range of wood types that can be utilised,” said the former director-general of the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia. 

Although the authorities have long recognised the importance of cultivating fast-growing timber species to reduce the pressure on natural forests, implementation has been way too slow.  

Huge trees such as this one felled in a forest in Bidor, Perak, have become uncommon as more forests are cleared. - Pix by Colin Nicholas

As early as 1982, the Forestry Department had launched the Compensatory Forest Plantation Programme (CFPP) to address the impending shortage.  

One chosen species was the exotic Acacia mangium. But it proved to be a futile attempt as the trees failed to yield the quality required for general utility timber and pulp, resulting in huge losses to some state governments. It is learnt that sub-standard seedlings were the cause. The trees were saddled with heart-rot disease that compromised their quality.  

The failure eroded the confidence of public agencies, leaving the effort to private investors. But interest from the private sector has been lukewarm as the long gestation period, land scarcity and the general lack of knowledge in suitable species are risk factors that discourage investors despite the provision of incentives like pioneer status for 10 years and investment tax allowances for five years.  

The incentives were revised in 2003 where the pioneer status was extended to 15 years and the investment tax allowance, to 10 years. 

Mohd Silahuddin Jamaluddin of Mangium Plantations said the failure was largely due to poor planning. The pulp and paper plant which was part of the initial project, was scrapped and as such, there was no dedicated chip mill to pulp Acacia logs. 

As a result, the logs fetched only RM60 per tonne in the peninsula compared with more than RM90 per tonne in Sabah. Due to the blanket restriction on log export, growers in the peninsula could not sell their logs to overseas pulp and paper mills.  

“With the exception of one plantation in Ulu Sedili, Johor, the others are selling the logs to chipboard plants which is a waste because the Acacia is of Grade A cellulose quality. 

A mere 55,648ha of Acacia were planted under the CFPP in Johor, Kelantan, Negri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Selangor and Terengganu and another 5,476ha were undertaken by various state agencies in Johor, Kelantan, Kedah, Pahang and Terengganu. 

Despite the bad name that Acacia has generated as an invasive species, Mohd Silahuddin said it all boils down to common sense. 

“Don’t introduce it in a natural forest. Even growing it near a natural forest is not possible as Acacia cannot compete with other tree species in a healthy forest,” said the manager who oversees 17,000ha of Acacia plantation in the Bengkoka peninsula in the district of Pitas in north-east Sabah.  

He believes that Acacia is a good species for commercial planting as it is hardy and has many uses, from pulp log to sawn timber.  

At the end of 2004, there were 310,553ha of plantation forests – 75,807ha in Peninsular Malaysia, 174,746ha in Sabah and 60,000ha in Sarawak. 

The Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry intends to boost these figures. It has identified 2.8 million ha of land that is available for forest plantation. 

It has earmarked 375,000ha to be planted with fast-growing species over the next 15 years, with 25,000ha to be cultivated annually. 

It is projected that 5 million cu m of wood can be harvested every year based on a 12-to-15-year rotation period. Eight suitable species, including Acacia and rubberwood, have been identified for the project, that will get RM2.5bil in government funding.  

An organisation, Forest Plantation Development Sdn Bhd, that was formed, has been allocated RM200mil to grow valuable timber species like rubberwood, semangkok and Acacia in five states.