multipurpose tree species research for small farms: strategies ... - part

The status of fuelwood utilization in lime and
pottery/ceramic industries in Ratchaburi
Province, western Thailand ispresented. These
industries use about 500,000 cubic meters of
fuelwood annually. Pottery/ceramic factories
use "chopstick funlwood", 1-3cm in diameter
and 1.30m in length, and "large fuelwood",
10-20cm in diameter and 2m in length, while
lime factories use only large fuelwood. The
rapid depletion of forest areas has caused
serious problems of fuelwood shortage while the
ban on logging has exacerbated the problem
even further.
The analysis compared large-scale Eucalyptus
plantations on forest land uider private lease
and small-scale plantations on farmland under
different spacings and felling cycles, ic. lxI, 1x2,
2x2, 2x4 and 4x4m with three and fie year
felling cycles. Results conclude that chopstick
fuelwood production is economically preferred
on both forest and farmland under lxim
spacing with a three year felling cycle, whereas
4x4m spacing and five year felling cycles are
most productive for large fuelwood.
All data in the analysis were cross-sectional
data. It has been suggested that time-series
data be collected from fuelwood cutters,
middlemen, and end-users in order to validate
the cross-sectional data.
Background
The use of fuelwood in rural households and
industries in Thailand is very important, and in
many cases is considered indispensable.
Natural forests are the major sources of this
fuelwood. Other sources include fruit orchards,
homegardens, and farm wpodlots. With easy
access to fuelwood sources, particularjy state
forests, rural people harvest and use fuelwood
without any conservation measures. Although
wood has been replaced in many areas by
conventional commercial energy, it isstill
regarded as a necessity by certain rural
industries.
Economic Feasibility of Fuelwood Production:
AFinancial Approach
Songkram Thammincha
Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsrt Uniersity
Bangkok, Thailand
64
Ratchaburi Province provides a good
example of fuelwood utilization by rural
industries. The province is located 120km
southwest of Bangkok. Two typical industries
that rely on wood-based energy are lime and
ceramic production.
Lime production in Ratchaburi dates back to
the beginning of the 1930s. Currently, there are
32 producers with a total of 65 kilns, accounting
for 20% of the national lime output
(Chomcharn 1985). The size of fuelwood used
ranges from 10-20cm in diameter and is2m
long. The total volume of fuelwood rSquired for
lime production is 150,000 - 200,000m per year,
90 percent of which is from natural forests.
Ratchaburi province has established itself as
a leader in ceramic production, particularly in
utilitarian glazed water storage jars and fish
sauce jars which are sold throughout the
country. The glazed water jars can be found in
nearly all Thai houses to store drinking water
(Panyachan and Magsabsri 1986). Other
products include floor and roof tiles, blue and
white and multicolor porcelains, and fired clay
bucket cookstoves. There are a total of 47
producers and 49 kilns. Two types of fuelwood
are used in the ceramic industry -- large
fuelwood 10-15cm in diameter and 1.5m long to
start the firing process, and chopstick fuelwood
to keep the fire burnigg. For each operation (or
ceramiSfiring) 6-12m of starting fuelwood and
25-35m of chopstick fuel are used, bringing the
annual fuelwood consumption of the ceramic
factories to 300,000m".
Both industries depend on fuelwood from
natural forests. The deforestation rate in
Ratchaburi was estimated to be about 9,544ha
per year from 1961 to 1985 (Royal Forest
Department 1985). This has caused serious
environmental problems and fuelwood
shortages. Approximately 98,000ha, or 19% of
the total land area of forest remains, but both
legal and illegal cutting continues.