Some Zimbabwean companies have been forced to start importing timber to bridge a critical supply gap that has been widening for the past two decades, a situation the industry fears is only the beginning of a much larger crisis.

The Chairman of the Zimbabwe Timber Federation, Mr Darlington Duwa, confirmed the development, saying the shortages stem from a disastrous combination of destructive veld fires, a massive shift from forestry to agricultural land use, and over-cutting by companies without adequate corresponding replanting.

"We are now seeing companies resorting to imports to keep operations running, which is a clear sign of the severe resource depletion we are facing," Mr Duwa said in an interview on Monday.

The country's timber reserves, primarily located in the Eastern Highlands, have been severely depleted over the last 20 years.

Large swathes of commercial and indigenous forestland have been ravaged by uncontrolled veld fires, which have become more frequent and intense, consuming timber stock.

Allied Timbers Zimbabwe estimates that thousands of illegal settlers have taken over more than 50 percent of its total available area, and these occupants are cited as the primary cause of devastating veld fires.

For various reasons, local timber producers, have been unable to invest significantly in long-term replanting and forest management programmes due to mounting financial pressures.

Mr Duwa provided a grim forecast, warning that the current shortage is "just a beginning" and the situation is "set to get worse."

The long-term nature of commercial forestry means that even an aggressive, national replanting campaign today would not yield a solution for years.

"The horizon for mature timber is about 25 years," Mr Duwa explained.

"This long maturation period means that the damage done over the past two decades has locked us into a prolonged period of scarcity, irrespective of our efforts today."

The core challenge lies in the fact that softwoods like pine and eucalyptus, which form the backbone of Zimbabwe's commercial timber industry for construction and furniture manufacturing, require a quarter of a century to reach harvesting age.

With the industry now reeling from the impact of lost forests and inadequate new growth, Mr Duwa stressed that the only immediate mitigation strategy is the "efficient use of remaining resources" to temper the looming crisis.

The severe supply contraction in the domestic market has had an immediate and painful effect on consumers and the construction industry.

The shortage has resulted in timber prices increasing by varying degrees, pushing up the costs of building materials.

Major Zimbabwean timber companies include State-owned Allied Timbers and Border Timbers.

These companies have resorted to engaging contractors to process their timber due to limited internal capacity, sharing the revenue on an agreed basis.

Timber shortages force Zim companies to import - herald