Kampala — UGANDANS selling non-timber products from forests earn over sh60b annually, an official from the National Forestry Authority (NFA) has said.

NFA's public relations manager Gaster Kiyingi said the forestry industry employs about one million Ugandans.

Kiyingi said 100,000 are permanent employees while the rest are in the informal sector.

"Sh66b goes to people in the informal forestry sector like those herbalists in Katwe," he said.

Kiyingi said over three quarters of villages sell forestry products like timber, firewood, charcoal and wood off-cuts.

He said illegal harvesting and selling of timber had made it impossible to value forest resources in the country.

"There are no saints in timber dealing especially those with little capital. The culprits sneak into timber yards at night and drive away with lorries of timber," Kiyingi said at his office in Bugolobi.