Certification: Situation analysis of private timber growers in South Africa

SYNOPSIS Forest certification has become an important aspect to consider in forestry. The South African forestry industry has adopted to a system of forest certification fairly easily. The private timber growers are also expected to implement certification, but can they adapt to it as easily as the timber companies have? A questionnaire was compiled and sent to representatives of seven organisations representing private timber growers. The goal was to identify opportunities and constraints in the certification of private timber growers. The results from the survey indicate that the private timber growers are very aware of certification and that all of the contacted organisations are at some stage of implementing the certification process. High costs and excessive administration were identified as the main constraints to certification, while group certification was identified as a way of mitigating these constraints.