Green Investments – 2! PH Imports $1.45-B Wood/Yr; Organize, Support Tree Farmers

The Philippines, once known as a major source of hardwood for Japan and the U.S., now imports 75% of its wood and wood products, some of which come from the very countries which imported logs from the country decades ago.
In fact, in 2022, the Philippines imported $1.45-B worth of “Wood and Wood Products”to supply the needs of the local construction industry.
The funniest part is that we even import “Charcoal.”
Pati “Uling” ini-import na natin!
Among the major sources of imported plywood, veneered panels/sheets, laminated wood, and coniferous or non-coniferous wood sawn or chipped lengthwise are China, Indonesia, Japan, United States and Canada.
The cruel joke is that not only did some of these countries ravage our forests decades ago, they now source their wood raw materials from planted species in the Philippines, processed these into plywood, veneers and laminated wood which then were exported back to the Philippines.
Ours is a perfect example of how a rich country squandered its resources because of the greed for quick money and now realizes that with its forests reduced to less than 10% of its original area in the 1900s, it had to rely on importation.
This could change, however, if our policy makers and planners, especially those behind the ambitious Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) would realize that investing in our local wood production and processing industry would bring about great economic opportunities for the tree farmers and workers.
Tree Farming, as a major industry in the countryside, would also be a boost to our program to protect our mountains from soil erosion and our water sources from drying up.
The MIF Investment in the Wood Production and Processing Industry would also save the country $1.45-B in foreign exchange every year.
For several decades now, there is a growing interest among landowners in the Southern Philippines, especially among holds of Ancestral Domain Titles, in the planting of Falcata and Gmelina.
This was spurred by the promise that one hectare of Falcata or Gmelina would earn the farmer P1-M, to the point that there is one community in the Caraga Region which declared itself as the “Millionaires Village” because its residents planted Falcata.
As is the ending of most stories in agriculture, the Days of the Millionaires ended when unscrupulous foreign “Wood Buyers and Traders” manipulated the prices.
Most of the Falcata logs are bought from farmers at a very low price, processed outside of the country and sold back to the Philippines as “plywood, veneer, laminated wood and paper products.”
What needs to be done now is to organize the Tree Farmers of Mindanao and other emerging Tree Production Provinces into forming a company or a corporation so that these could be presented to the MIF as recipients of investments.
These Wood Processing Companies or Corporations owned by the tree farmers themselves supported by investments from the MIF would boost a multi-billion peso industry.
Marami itong benepisyo, hindi lang sa income ng mga nagtatanim ng Falcata o Gmelina at mga manggagawa sa industriya, kundi pati na rin sa ating Re-Greening Program ng ating pamahalaan.
These, I believe, is an area of investment, along with the Bamboo Industry, which should be prioritized by the MIF, instead of investing in money markets which would have very little impact and effect on the local economy and the lives of Filipinos in the countryside.
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!
#KungGustoMaramingParaan!