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Sawmillers, lumber dealers get standards warning
`There will be no favourite company and the GFC will be required to carry
out its mandate' - Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud
By Clifford Stanley
SAWMILLERS and lumber dealers in Berbice have been advised to put their
operations in order since guidelines designed to ensure that they produce
high quality products for local and external markets are going to be
enforced by the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) from January 2008.
"There will be no favourite company and the GFC will be required to carry
out its mandate and if they fail to do so mechanisms to deal with that exist
and will be activated," Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud told a
gathering of stakeholders in the logging industry at Skeldon, Corentyne, on
Sunday.
The occasion was a meeting at the GUYSUCO Management Centre called by the
GFC with the aim of bringing players in the sector up to date with the
changes that they will have to make in their operations by January 2008.
The subject was Wood Processing Standards and Procedures for Sawmills,
Sawpits, Lumberyards and Timber Depots.
Commissioner of Forestry, James Singh, outlined guidelines which touched on
standards for sawing and cutting, stacking and racking, drying, grading,
chemical treatment and occupational health and safety for workers, among
others.
The sawmillers and others were told that they would have to meet these and
other requirements to either retain their licence or get licences for new
operations.
Among the stipulations:
** No log should be dressed and sold to anyone before it has been dried to a
moisture content of 20%.
** All lumber must be sawn with care so as to obtain the nominal sizes when
the moisture content is 20%.
Additionally, from 2008, the GFC would give preference to the licensing of
sawmills and processing facilities utilising Band Sawing technology.
All sawmills and sawpits must achieve recovery rates starting from 50% and
increasing to 75% by 2011, the Commissioner said.
All wood must be stacked, under cover, as quickly as possible (24 hours),
after coming off the saw and all logs for sale either to the local or
external market must be graded.
With respect to Stacking and Racking, the standards/guidelines include:
** The date of stacking must be marked on each stack of lumber so as to
allow for adequate drying time.
** Rough sawn wood must remain stickered and stacked until it has achieved a
moisture content of 20% or less.
** Only lumber that has been dried to a moisture content of 20% or less
should be stored in racks or without stickers.
** All sawn and processed lumber in storage must either be in stacks or
racks among others.
** All rough sawn lumber to be dressed or used in the furniture industry
must be dried to a moisture content of 20% or less before dressing is
carried out.
The guidelines also include standards for Occupational Health and Safety
(OH&S) for employees in the sector.
These standards stipulate requirements such as employee safety gears, lunch
room and other such facilities, employee training, safety guards on
machinery, signage such as warning signs on restricted areas and fire
hazards and adequate facilities for waste disposal. Minister Persaud who
delivered the feature address before the presentation by the Commissioner of
the GFC reminded the sawmillers and loggers that these guidelines had been
circulated within the sector since 2005 and were therefore nothing new.
"It is time to implement the changes," he said.
"We have to give good quality products to our local consumers. We have to do
so too for our external markets. We cannot jeopardise the reputation of the
forestry sector by erratic behaviour and non-adherence to regulations and
conditions that we have agreed to and that we want to develop," he said.
He commended those millers and other players in the sector who had begun
making the necessary changes to upgrade their operations to the required
standards.
He urged others to rise to the challenge of taking their operations to a
higher level so that they give Guyana's forestry products a good showing on
the external market and enable the sector to make a greater input into the
economy.
On the question of sources of financing to implement the necessary changes,
the minister said sawmillers and other stakeholders who want to upgrade
should approach the relevant financial institutions.
He stressed: "The issue of the changes that we have to make is
non-negotiable."
The new standards and requirements for players in the forestry sector arise
from the Guyana Forestry Commission Bill passed by Parliament before it went
into recess some weeks ago.
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