Forestry industry development in Zambia: an opportunity for public private partnership for small and medium enterprises

In recent years, public-private partnerships (PPPs) concepts have attracted attention of the government of Zambia. Policies and legal frameworks have been developed and updated to promote PPPs in the country, particularly in infrastructure development, health and energy sectors. However, the forestry industry has not been listed among priority sectors for PPP development due to inadequate information about the subsector. The aim of this study was to identify preconditions for the development of PPPs in the forestry sector and to provide information that may be pertinent for partnerships in the processing industry. Based on the information from secondary sources, over 6.7 million m(3) of wood, distributed across the country, was estimated as a requirement for sustainable supply for industrial processing. The PPP potential areas include forest conservation, afforestation, value addition, bioenergy production. Formation of a private timber development agency is a major precondition to the development PPPs for SMEs in Zambia.