The wood preservation industry in Kenya

IRG/WP 97-30157

R Venkatasamy

Like in many other tropical and sub-tropical countries, the necessity to protect wood using wood preserving chemicals was not found necessary in Kenya because of abundant supplies of naturally durable hardwoods. That situation changed as a result of depletion of natural hardwood forests and replacement by fast growing non-durable exotic species and the appearance of new, more lucrative markets for the available valuable hardwoods, such as veneer production and furniture manufacture. Supplies of timber for the Building and Construction Industry and utility poles and posts have consequently been solely relying on exotic species from plantation forests. In Kenya, the bulk of plantation forests consists mainly of such non-durable species as the eucalypts, the pines and cypress. Timber from these species are widely used in the Building and Construction Industry, as posts for fencing, telegraph and power transmission poles, poles in horticulture and for a variety of other minor uses in the rural areas, including low-cost housing.


Keywords: WOOD PRESERVATION; KENYA

Conference: 97-05-25/30 Whistler, British Columbia, Canada


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