CHAINSAW MILLING IN GHANA: CONTExT, DRIVERS ... - Fornis.net

Chainsaw milling in Ghana: context, drivers and impactsBased on the results shown in Table 7, it can be concluded that one chainsawoperation involving tree spotting, setting up, felling and sawing takes two days toprocess an average of 1.2 trees. This means that the transaction time involved inchainsaw operations is significant, given that the felling and milling of one tree takesabout 7.4 hours, or about one working day (Owusu et al. 2009). Thus almost half ofthe total operational time is involved in travelling, spotting trees and setting up.Table 7. Operational statistics, chainsaw millingparameter unit data sourcenumber of hours to process 1 tree (average 2.97 m 3 ) 7.4 Owusu et al. 2009number of trees processed in a working month 12 Owusu et al. 2009approximate number of operation days to process one 1.92 deductivetree (including set-up and travel time)average number of operations per month 5 recalculated from Adam et al.2007aAdam et al. (2007a) defines a working period as the length of time taken tocomplete one supply contract. They indicated that about one to four trees may beremoved in one working period, depending on the contract.Obiri and Damnyag (2009a) reported that an average of three trees were felled inone operation, based on observations of 78 chainsaw gangs felling and processing240 trees. In the absence of other empirical data to resolve the discrepancy betweenthe two different results (1.2 vs 3 trees felled per operation), it will be assumed forthe purpose of further calculations that one operation takes about two days toprocess two trees, or one day per tree.Given the sharp seasonal variations in operations and outputs caused by fluctuationsin climate and demand, the number of operations stated by operators as reported byAdam et al. (2007a) is open to question. For example, they report that betweenFebruary and September 2005, chainsaw operations were lean, with an averagemonthly yield of four trees. This implies an average of two operations per month forthe period. The period between October and January was reported as peak, withan average of 23 trees felled in a month. This gives an average of 11 operations permonth in the peak period. The conservative aggregate annual average number ofoperations is therefore taken to be five operations per month.Gangs are generally paid before the operation begins. Loading boys are hired lessoften than other workers because their services are required only when the operationprocesses enough lumber to fill a truck (Adam et al. 2007a). Table 8 notes thenumber of operations and amounts reported by workers, including drivers, basedon CSM activities during a peak period.18