DIRECTORATE OF FOREST PRODUCTION RESEARCH
The Directorate of Forest Production Research is responsible in carrying research and dissemination of research findings in Natural Forest Management, Community and Farm Forestry, Plantation Forestry and Tree Improvement, Forest Resource Assessments and Socio-economics, Policy and Extension. We have six departments of Forest Protection, Forest Ecology and Biodiversity, Tree Breeding and Improvement, Information and Documentation and Socio-economics, Governance and Policy Research. These departments are replicated in Research Centres located in strategic ecological zones. We have the Malya Lake zone Afforestation Research Centre, Lushoto Silvicultural Research Centre, Dodoma Arid Zone Afforestation centre, Tabora Miombo woodland Research Centre, Kibaha Lowland Afforestation Research Centre, Mufindi Pulpwood afforestation Research Centres.
In terms of facilities, the Directorate manages over 1000 research trial plots all over the country
These include trials on: species elimination, tree increment, progeny, fire control, thinning, provenances, progeny, spacing, weeding, manuring trials and natural forest management trials and established permanent sample plots. We have also arboreta and botanical gardens at Amani, Kigogo, Lushoto and Rondo. The Amani Botanical garden carries the history of forest research in the country dates back to 1902. We also runs the herbarium at Lushoto with a replica at Kingolwira Headquarters which collects, identifies and preserves botanical specimens of trees, shrubs, herbs and other plants growing in various ecological zones in Tanzania. Today the herbarium contains over 48,000 botanical specimens of trees, shrubs, herbs and other plants which belong to 261 families, 1633 genera and 5123 species. In terms of laboratories, we have a Tree tissue culture laboratory responsible for In-vitro propagation of trees, Pathology and Entomology and soils. It is of recent, that we have installed a forest fire detection satellite at Kingolwira.
We are also working with about 4 million rural farming households who have adopted and benefited from agroforestry interventions. It is through all these, that our strength lies based on wealth of accumulated knowledge, information and expertise on which further research and development can be made. The directorate offers a number of training courses organized and tailor made at different levels involving tree growers on tree growing industry. We also offer students field attachments in related fields at Headquarters and in our respective centers.
The Directorate also hosts a number of collaborative initiatives with National and International communities to mention few: The Tanzania Forest Health Forum, The tree improvement programme, the focal point for the Country Forest Genetic Resource in collaboration with the FAO.