Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0220/02204.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 30KB | 465 lines

$Unique_ID{COW02204}
$Pretitle{238}
$Title{Liberia
Chapter 3C.   Forestry, Fishing, Heavy Industries}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Donald P. Whitaker}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{percent
million
ore
early
tons
company
government
forest
iron
manufacturing}
$Date{1984}
$Log{}
Country:     Liberia
Book:        Liberia, A Country Study
Author:      Donald P. Whitaker
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1984

Chapter 3C.   Forestry, Fishing, Heavy Industries

Forestry

     In 1984 Liberia's forestry resource remained one of its most important
assets. Situated south of the Tropic of Cancer, in the moist belt along the
coast of West Africa, more than 75 percent of the country's land area was
covered by forest and woodland. Included in this cover were some 3,500 square
miles of virgin productive forest. Commercial exploitation of forest areas for
logs and timber for export began in a small way in the early 1960s. Early
operations were hindered by a lack of access roads in commercial forest areas
and by the high cost of new road construction. In 1963 about 4 million board
feet of timber were exported. Ten years later the reported total was 105
million board feet. During the 1970s the annual total varied considerably, but
in the latter half of the decade exports averaged well over 100 million board
feet a year, reaching a high of 166 million board feet in 1980. The increasing
importance of the forestry sector was apparent in its growing share of GDP,
which rose in constant terms from 1 percent in 1970 to 5.2 percent in 1980.
During this period the value of logs and sawn timber exports in current
dollars increased from $5.9 million to $72.5 million, accounting in 1970 and
1980 for 2.5 percent, and 12 percent respectively, of total merchandise export
earnings. The situation changed drastically in 1981, however, when earnings
declined to a little more than $41 million. A substantial drop in production
that occurred that year has been attributed in considerable part to economic
uncertainties after the change of government in 1980. But a decline in
international prices and the effects of the increasing value of the dollar on
market competitiveness were also important factors.

     The country's forests consisted of two predominant kinds, which, with the
transitional mixed forest between them, accounted for all but a minor part of
the total tree vegetation. Evergreen hardwood rain forests, whose trees
exhibited no marked seasonal leaf fall, occupied large areas in a wide zone
paralleling the coast in which the annual rainfall was over 80 inches and
there was no pronounced dry season. Beyond this zone, in the more northerly
and northwestern parts of the country, the forest consisted of moist-climate
semideciduous species. This vegetation resembled the rain forest in general
appearance, but leaves were lost in an annual pattern, although not all
species shed their leaves at the same time; thus, trees were bare for varying
periods. The remaining tree vegetation included the mangrove forests of the
brackish lagoons and the edges of some rivers in the coastal area. The coastal
area was also characterized by a strip, roughly 10 miles in average width,
consisting mostly of wooded savanna that had arisen as the result of the
clearing of the original rain forest by cultivators, subsequent burnings, and
deterioration of the soil. In 1984 the vegetation was mainly scattered low
trees, oil palms, bush, and occasional patches of remnant rain forest.
Similarly, in a relatively extensive area of the far northwest and in a small
part of northern Nimba County, heavy cultivation over a long period
accompanied by consistent burning had also degraded land that formerly had
been covered by semideciduous forest to a savanna of scattered fire-resistant
trees and high grasses.

     The species of trees in the present-day high forest and other evidence,
including ancient burial sites, indicate that a large part of the forest area
had at one time been exploited for agriculture. Early in the second millennium
A.D., shifting cultivation, in which upland rice was a main crop, spread
through the area. Much of the then-virgin forest was cut over by a population
that is believed to have been substantially larger in the middle of the
millennium than exists in present-day Liberia (see The African Background, ch.
1). From about the sixteenth century, however, this population was greatly
reduced by slave trading, disease, and warfare. A large part of the land
temporarily in tree fallow reverted to high forest, although the latter was of
a secondary character, having trees that differed from those of the original
forest.

     Under forestry legislation enacted in 1953, areas of national forests
were established in various parts of the country. They were largely
uninhabited regions, and agriculture-especially of a shifting nature-was
prohibited in them; some encroachment, however, has been reported. Varying in
size from about 17 square miles to 1,985 square miles, they encompassed in the
late 1970s over 6,400 square miles, or 17 percent of the land area. About 61
percent was located in the rain forests of southeastern Liberia, another 36
percent consisting of both rain and semideciduous forest was in the northwest,
and the remainder was in the northern part of the country. Cutting of trees in
the national forests and other high forests was regulated by the government.
Exploitation has been effected through a system of leased concessions, the
first of which was granted in the 1950s. In the early 1980s about 75 percent
of the high forest was in the hands of such concessionaires, approximately
three-quarters of whom were foreigners (in 1982 foreigners held 33 concessions
in all). Of the other concessions, 10 percent were Liberian owned, and
Liberians held majority interests in another 15 percent.

     There were about 235 tree species suitable for timber, but only about 150
of these were found in sufficient volume for economical exploitation. In 1984
fewer than one-third of the latter were generally known in world markets. A
handful, including species classified as West African mahogany, redwood, and
walnut, had intrinsic values that made them readily marketable, but other
exploited species faced strong competition.

     The country's large forestry resources have tended to diminish interest
in reforestation and tree plantation development. Some experimental plantings
of exotic species were begun in the early 1960s by the Forestry Experiment
Station of the University of Liberia. In the early 1970s concessionaires under
leasing agreements began some reforestation, and during the decade the
government initiated a program with foreign aid. A main objective of the
program has been the establishment of industrial plantations. In the early
1980s reforested and plantation areas totaled about 16,000 acres (25 square
miles), according to the Forestry Development Authority, an agency set up
under 1976 legislation to administer forestry matters.

Fishing

     The fishing resources off the Liberian coast in 1984 were believed to be
considerable and included such well-known food fish as croaker, grunt, sea
bream, mackerel, snapper, sole, grouper, tuna, and various sardines. Shrimp,
rock lobster, crab, and oysters were also caught. Until 1955 commercial
fishing had been carried out solely by Kru fishermen living along the coast
and by the Fante from Ghana, whose enclave settlements were found in all
larger towns and in some smaller coastal villages. Fishing was mainly by hand
lines and small nets from dug-out canoes, some of which had outboard motors.
Estimates of the total catch vary widely but have been as high as 5,000 tons a
year.

     The best fishing grounds lie a considerable distance off the coast. In
1955 exploitation began by the new Liberian-owned Mesurado Fishing Company,
which used a fleet of small trawlers. By the early 1960s the company had
established a number of cold storage facilities throughout the country,
incl