Forest Products, Livelihoods and Conservation

Wavell Standa-Gunda and Oliver Braedt 195

As carvers move farther away from their markets in search of logs, their

control over accessibility diminishes as different rules and regulations come

into play. Hence in those places where tree resources are still available, people

from resource-deficit zones find access to those resources, legally or otherwise,

difficult (Braedt 2002).

TRENDS AND MARGINS IN THE WOODCARVING MARKETS

Periodicity and trends in the marketing of woodcarvings

A detailed survey was carried out at three markets where there were 105

participants. Over the period of analysis from June 1997 to November 1998

the highest income from the sales of carvings was Z$120,000 in February (Figure 3).

This period is not associated with high numbers of tourist visits, making it

difficult to use the seasonality hypothesis to explain these sales. The month of

June, however, is a South African holiday season, and this is reflected in higher

incomes for woodcarving traders. It would be folly to try to extract seasonal

fluctuations of incomes linked to the fluctuations in tourism, as data from

Figure 3 do not fully support such a hypothesis. The fact that the markets that

have been assessed have low sales rates (trading an average of 18 products

per month) could explain the lack of clear trends.

Figure 3. Monthly income from the sale of woodcarvings for three craft markets

along the Masvingo–Beitbridge road

Stages in the production of carvings

The woodcarving process involves four main stages (Figure 4). The first level

is the acquisition of raw materials from the woodland and their transportation

to the market or another carving site. Using an adze the wood is usually carved

to a very rough stage, at the place where the tree is felled. This practice

removes unneeded wood, so that only carveable wood is being transported.

The second stage is the carving of the wood into the final product. The third

stage is the finishing of the piece with sandpaper and polish, whilst the last

stage is the actual selling of the carving.

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