KUCHING: Sarawak has reset the deadline to achieve the Industrial Forest Plantation (IFP) target to 2025.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said the new deadline is necessary because planting progress is slow.
He hoped all licence owners would expedite the development of the industrial forest plantation as another source of raw material to support the development of the timber industry.
“Sarawak has issued 43 IFP licences to meet the target of planting a total area of one million hectares by 2020.
“As of today, about 420,146 hectares have been planted,” he said when speaking at the Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC) 45th anniversary dinner at the Borneo Borneo Convention Centre (BCCK) here on Saturday night.
He also wanted the industrial forest plantation owners to intensify research and development (R&D) activities to enhance production of high quality planting material, pest and diseases control, forest management and harvesting in order to improve the planted forest performance.
Abang Johari said the harvesting of the industrial forest plantation in Sarawak began in 2011 with log production of 44,000 cubic metres.
In 2018, log production from the planted forest was about 1.72 million cubic metres and this was expected to increase in the years to come, he said.
With the potential to be developed as the hub of planted forest-based industry in this region, he said Sarawak could explore opportunities to produce higher value-added products like engineered wood, pulp and paper, bio-plastics, bio-fuel and furniture.
He said last year, the total export value of timber products was about RM5.4 billion, of which about 91 per cent were primary and secondary products.
“The timber industry has been one of the major contributors to the economic development of Sarawak, alongside other sectors like natural gas, petroleum and palm oil,” he said, adding that the industry had created more than 100,000 job opportunities. -Bernama
