WHEN MONEY DOES GROW ON TREES

Sappi Khulisa growers earn R362 million from timber

The old addage “money doesn’t grow on trees” has been thoroughly challenged by Sappi Khulisa. A growing number of participants of the tree-farming scheme, established by Sappi 35 years ago, are literally earning hard cash from their small plots of trees. In what turned out to be a bumper year, more than 4 000 small growers working more than 33 000ha of land, harvested and delivered timber to Sappi and earned R362 million in 2017. What started out in 1983 as a tree-farming scheme aimed at subsistence farmers – known as Project Grow – and which involved only three farmers working eight hectares of land, is now a successful supplier and entrepreneurship development model contributing towards sustainable livelihoods in rural areas. Khulisa (meaning ‘Grow’) was started by Sappi in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, covering the area from Manguzi near Kosi Bay in the north to Port Edward in the South and inland as far as Ixopo and Nongoma. Since starting up, Sappi Khulisa has also expanded to include community forestry projects and forestry projects handed to landreform beneficiaries, with projects in Eastern Cape near the towns of Bizana and Lusikisiki.

Creating Shared Value

It has come a long way since the early days when this programme was purely a Corporate Social Investment initiative for the company. Today, Sappi Khulisa is creating shared value by focusing on, and enhancing, the economic and social conditions of the communities in which it operates, while simultaneously enhancing its own competitiveness. With a significant volume of its timber supply now supplemented by the fibre it sources from the Sappi Khulisa Growers – 14.7% of Sappi KwaZulu-Natal’s hardwood supply – it is important for Sappi to ensure the continued sustainability and future prosperity of these suppliers. This philosophy is clearly entrenched in the mission statement of Sappi Khulisa, which is: To provide extension services to Khulisa growers and contractors so as to contribute to their livelihood and profitability from timber, resulting in a sustainable supply for Sappi.

In essence the programme provides the following :

• Sappi provides quality seedlings, using site-specific species for best yield. These seedlings are produced at Sappi’s nurseries and are genetically superior thanks to years of research.

• A qualified team of 23 dedicated Sappi Khulisa foresters provides extension services offering expert advice to growers on a continuous basis.

• With the international demand for its products growing rapidly, Sappi guarantees a secure future market for buying timber from growers at fair, market-related prices. Sappi is a global leader in dissolving wood pulp which is used worldwide to produce viscose fibre, pharmaceutical products as well as a wide range of household and consumer products, as well as paper-based solutions ranging from packaging, containerboard and fluting, newsprint, uncoated and business papers.

• An interest-free loan is provided to cover all farming input costs, including annual maintenance of the plantations until harvesting.

• Advances are paid to growers for work carried out throughout the generally 8-10 year growing cycle.

• Growers’ associations are encouraged to increase collaboration between growers, contractors, and Sappi, and maximising the opportunities available

in the forestry value chain; this means that the importance of developing not only the growers but also the rest of the participants in the value chain (silviculture and harvesting contractors, short haul and long haul transporters, and other support services) are being recognised and included.

• Extensive training is offered to these value chain participants, which is aimed at improving technical silviculture and harvesting practices to increase yields and profitability, as well as focusing on improving business acumen, life skills and entrepreneurship.

Rejuvenating Khulisa

Although the programme has been around for many years, Sappi has recently embarked on a ‘re-engineering’ drive of this successful extension programme, which has earned more than R1.6 billion in cash for its participants since its inception. This re-engineering drive is aimed at ensuring that more people are able to enter and benefit from the forestry value chain, through collaboration and partnership with Sappi, and that those that are already part of this chain, are maximising their yields. To this end, Sappi is reorganising the ways in which it engages with its growers, encouraging group meetings and collaboration, using technology to greater benefit to streamline payments and admin, and introducing large-scale knowledge and skills upliftment for contractors and growers through its Khulisa Ulwazi (‘Growing Knowledge’) training programme.

Rejuvenated programme sparks interest

The moisture-rich area of Dokodweni situated near the coastal side of the Mandeni Municipality was one of the first plantation areas that was identified under the Sappi Khulisa project in the 1980s. Back then, Sappi Khulisa had a forestry team that included Michael Dlamini and the late B.Z. Xulu, amongst others assisting families with their crops and advising them on good planting practises.

The conditions of the land and the eagerness of the community members to plant trees fuelled interest in the programme. However, in recent years, most families in the Dokodweni area decided to venture into planting sugar-cane on portions of their land, citing quick turn-around times in profits as the main reason for the shift. The wiser older generation, though, continued planting trees – duly assisted by Sappi – and have been reaping the rewards over the years. With the re-engineering of the Sappi Khulisa programme, and with talk about new developments taking place, the Khulisa team in Mandeni has been receiving numerous calls from community members requesting assistance in the re-establishment of their plots and people from the area wanting to join the programme. The Khulisa team has been interacting with these growers on an ongoing basis and have been busy fielding calls from interested community members, all excited about the prospects of entering and benefiting from the Forestry Value Chain. “We are assisting the growers to adopt a more structured approach to supplying fibre. This includes streamlining the whole process so that they can get maximum returns,” said Mbeko Nkosana, Senior Area Manager, Sappi Khulisa. “We are actively engaging with the growers in order to provide support to improve their productivity and profitability. The focus of these efforts is in two key areas: improved silviculture practices and streamlining the supply chain (including transport and logistics)”, he said.