The Economic Benefits of Forest Tree Breeding

Abstract

The application of research results will increase volume production of forestry plantations and improve the quality of the raw material considerably. This paper illustrates that only one aspect of forestry research, namely tree breeding, will result in volume improvement of 5 to 30%. What does this mean to the industry in terms of money? It is shown that the discounted value of tree improvement potentially available to the industry, is more than R30 million per annum for the six major species grown in South Africa.