DURING the past almost countless years, the wood industries in the country have been reportedly suffering from a shortage of raw materials.
Mainly, this problem has been caused by decades of practice of indiscriminate logging operations, which have systematically reduced the areas of the country’s natural growth forests.
In an effort to help beef up the country’s wood supply, the Forest Products Research and Development Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-FPRDI) has already started a research program for studying different kinds of tree plantation species (TPS).
According to Dr. Dwight A. Eusebio of the DOST-FPRDI, “TPS are fast-growing trees that are either native or introduced to a particular place, and grown in tree farms at least half a hectare in size.”
It can be noted that tree farms or plantations became popular in the Philippines starting in the 1980s, and especially in the last 10 years after the government finally imposed a logging moratorium on all kinds of natural growth forests.
The DOST-FPRDI says that TPS are grown mainly as substitute for the traditional species, and the ones commonly found in local tree farms include the yemane (Gmelina arborea Roxb.); malapapaya [Polyscias nodosa (Blume) Seeman]; mangium (Acacia mangium Willd.); river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh); falcata [Falcataria moluccana(Miq.) Barneby & J.W. Grimes]; large-fruited red mahogany (Eucalyptus pellita F.v. Muell); large-leaf mahogany (Sweitenia macrophylla King); and bagras (Eucalyptus deglupta Blume).
“DOST-FPRDI studies TPS not only because they make good construction and housing materials, but also because they have a host of other industrial uses,” says Eusebio.
These tree plantation species can be used for the production of pulp and paper, veneer and plywood, composite boards (particleboard, fiberboard, etc.), power and telecommunication poles, and packaging materials (pallets, fruit boxes, and crates, among many others).
They can also be tapped for builders woodworks such as doors, windows, door and window jambs, moldings, balusters, stairs and railings, shingles and shakes, parquets, etc., fancy woodwork, wooden shoes, pencil slats, ice cream spoons, chopsticks, matchsticks, toothpicks, and many other products.
“The uses of wood, of course, are dependent on its inherent qualities. For example – Is the wood light or heavy? Durable or not? Easy or difficult to dry, machine or finish? These are some things we need to know to determine its applications,” says Eusebio.
Thus, for three decades now, the DOST-FPRDI researchers from diverse fields have been looking into the properties of 15 TPS (mostly eucalypts and acacias) – their anatomical, chemical, physical and mechanical, sawmilling, machining, finishing, drying characteristics, natural durability and treatability.
All the information generated has consequently been published in handbooks and bulletins.
“In the coming years, we are committed to conduct research and development studies on other TPS that have not yet been tapped by our client-industries,” Eusebio added.
According to the Forest Management Bureau (FMB), the wood sector needs about six million cubic meters of raw materials a year.
This is way beyond the one million cubic meters produced, 75 percent of which is supplied by tree plantations./PN
