216 The Pterocarpus angolensis DC. based woodcraft industry in the Bushbuckridge districtThe greatest costs for both groups are incurred during harvesting and
marketing. The main input costs for harvesting include capital to purchase a
chain saw, chain saw maintenance and fuel, payment of additional labour, travel
costs for two or three trips to the harvesting site and the hire of a truck to
transport logs home. The average annual harvesting cost is R3,459. Other
overheads include the purchase of tools and consumables such as sandpaper
and polish. Many woodworkers have invested in power tools over the last few
years. Wages are another relatively high outlay. Furniture makers employ from
6 to 17 workers on a part-time or full-time basis, whereas few carvers employ
additional help. Instead, most recruit the unpaid assistance of family members.
Wages are variable and a common method of payment is a set rate per item
completed. Men are usually employed for carpentry or carving work, and women
for sanding and polishing. Unstable income was mentioned as the main reason
for not employing assistants, or for employing them on a part-time basis only.
The returns relative to the cost of the raw material are high, the farmgate
price of wood being approximately R0.60 per kilogram relative to an average of
R46 per kilogram for finished products (Steenkamp 1999b). Known artists can
obtain as much as R400 per kilogram. Wastage, however, occurs owing to design,
poor tools, cracking, and borer damage. Much of the raw timber is thus lost.
The local price for wood is highly subsidised and the value of P. angolensis
timber in the commercial market is many times higher (R8,000 per cubic meter).
Major constraints to the industry, as perceived by woodworkers, include a
lack of credit facilities and the consequent inability to purchase or hire sufficient
machinery, tools, wood, and transport; wood scarcity; poor business and
organisational skills; and a limited market. Two problems highlighted in 1993,
i.e., difficulties obtaining licences and a lack of electricity, were no longer
applicable in 2000. Buyers and external organisations have also identified poor
and inconsistent quality, irregularity of supply, a limited product range and a
lack of individuality, innovation and creativity as problems (Bristow-Bovey 1998).
Such constraints are not unique to woodcaft producers. The difficulties rural
craftspeople experience in meeting the quality standards and aesthetic and fashion
trends of high-value markets, as well as the logistical and financial constraints
they face in the production process, have been highlighted by other writers (Marcus
2000; MDA 2000). Marcus (2000) concludes, for an area of KwaZulu-Natal, that
‘presently craft production in poor households is beset by a lack of variety,
variability in quality of output, narrow markets that are spatially and materially
limited, and limited production flexibility’. The lack of access to microcredit also
prevents producers who have broken into the market, and managed to secure
large orders, from prefinancing the scale of production required to meet demand.
The result is that ‘the market is unforgiving: it moves on’ (MDA 2000).Levels of organisation
Some researchers believe that poor organisational ability is one of the biggest
limitations to growth in the woodcraft industry nationwide (Bristow-Bovey 1998;
Steenkamp 1999b). Home crafters have always tended to operate independently,
which has been both a strength and a weakness. The strength lies in the fact
that these producers have successfully managed to earn a living for themselves12SAwoodcarving.p65 216 22/12/2004, 11:05