This study uses a multi-case dataset to question current assumptions about the gender differentiation of forest product use. We test some of the commonly held ideas on how men and women access, manage, and use different forest products. Overall, we found significant gender differentiation in the collection of forest products, which seems to support the claim that there are distinctive “male” and “female” roles associated with the collection of forest products. However, we also found that men play a much more important and diverse role in the contribution of forest products to rural livelihoods than previously reported, with strong differences across tropical Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Tag: forest products
Tree-Based Ecosystem Approaches (TBEAs) as Multi-Functional Land Management Strategies—Evidence from Rwanda
Densely populated rural areas in the East African Highlands have faced significant intensification challenges under extreme population pressure on their land and ecosystems. Sustainable agricultural intensification, in the context of increasing cropping intensities, is a prerequisite for deliberate land management strategies that deliver multiple ecosystem goods (food, energy, income sources, etc.) and services (especially improving soil conditions) on the same land, as well as system resilience, if adopted at scale. Tree based ecosystem approaches (TBEAs) are among such multi-functional land management strategies. Knowledge on the multi-functionality of TBEAs and on their scaling up, however, remains severely limited due to several methodological challenges. This study aims at offering an analytical perspective to view multi-functional TBEAs as an integral part of sustainable agricultural intensification. The study proposes a conceptual framework to guide the analysis of socio-economic data and applies it to cross-site analysis of TBEAs in extremely densely populated Rwanda. Heterogeneous TBEAs were identified across Rwanda’s different agro-ecological zones to meet locally-specific smallholders’ needs for a set of ecosystem goods and services on the same land. The sustained adoption of TBEAs would be guaranteed if farmers subjectively recognize their compatibility and synergy with sustainable intensification of existing farming systems, supported by favorable institutional conditions.
Son tra marketing strategy
Sandalwood as a component of agroforestry: exploration of parasitism and competition with the WaNuLCAS model
Sandalwood is an important component of agroforestry systems in the drier Eastern parts of Indonesia, although its value to farmers is still limited by existing policies and regulation of marketing. As a relatively slow growing root parasite, sandalwood will interact with other components in a complex pattern of competition and host-parasite relationships, depending on root distribution and rooting depth of potential hosts. We describe a number of modifications to the generic tree-soil-crop simulation model WaNuLCAS, that allow exploration of the transition between parasitism and competition. The key variable in this transition is the effectiveness of formation of the parasitic link for all situations where roots of the host and parasite occur in the same volume of soil. At low values of this effectiveness competition dominates, at higher values sandalwood will weaken the host, until it effectively kills it, leading to an optimum response of sandalwood to the effectiveness parameter. Unresolved questions in the formulation of the model are the lifespan of parasitized roots and the question whether or not sandalwood will allocate energy resources for maintenance respiration of host roots after the formation of haustoria. The ‘desk study’ reported here was intended to focus subsequent field studies on these unresolved issues.
Assessment of farm timber chains in Mount Kenya area, Kenya: lessons learnt and best practices recommended
This paper describes and analyses a sample of value chains of timber sourced from farms in the mount Kenya region.The research was undertaken in the early 2000’s and the sample of the 48 value chains was drawn from the census of 252 businesses 9in the geographic area.
Bark for sale: the adoption potential of Prunus africana as an agroforestry tree for small-scale farmers in Cameroon
The bark of Prunus africana, a tree growing in African highland forests, has been exported from Cameroon to Europe since 1972 for the treatment of benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH). Bark harvesting has had a devastating effect on the tree in Cameroon, Africa’s largest P . africana bark exporter. This paper assesses the adoption potential of P. africana a m o n g s m a l l-scale farmers,that is, its profitability, acceptability and market potential. While not as profitable as Eucalyptusspp, an alternative enterprise, farmers want to grow P. africana because it is compatible with many crops and has multiple uses –bark sales, medicine, tools, poles, seed sales, and mulch. In fact, several thousand farmers have planted the tree. The availability of markets also appears high, as herbal treatments of BPH are popular and demand is likely to grow. Research is needed in four areas to help P . africana play a sustainable role in improving the livelihoods of s m a l l-scale farmers: domestication, understanding farmers’ experiences growing and using the tree, market assessments, and tree tenure. Moreover, progress on promoting P. Africanaa s a s m a l lholder enterprise is dependent on Cameroon meeting the demands of the European Union and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species to conserve and sustainably manage the tree
Can smallholder tree farmers help revive the timber industry in deforested tropical countries? A case study from Southern Philippines
In many countries of South and South-east Asia trees planted on farms are becoming the most important source of wood. In the Philippines, forestry statistics indicate that since 1999 between 50 percent to 70 percent of the log production came from planted trees because of misdirected policies on natural forests. Today, there are in northern Mindanao 135 active small-scale sawmills (SSS) exclusively supplied with farm-grown timber. These have an estimated log utilization potential of 111,064 m3 year1 and a sawn timber production potential of 76,596 m3 year1. However, the Philippine government has not duly acknowledged yet, the importance of timber production by smallholder farmers and their contribution to sustain the wood industry. Existing policies disincentive tree planting and the marketing of farm-grown timber. This chapter explores the importance and the potential of smallholder farmers to sustain the wood industry by characterizing the producers and the timber produced, and describing the structure of the market of farm-grown timber. The study was conducted among farmers in Claveria, northern Mindanao and wood processing plants located in Cagayan de Oro City and its neighbouring municipalities. Evidence is provided that most of the planted trees used by the wood industry in the region and sold in national and international markets are produced on-farm. This shows that smallholder farmers can produce large quantities of timber and efficiently supply local and national markets. The Philippine government and the wood industry sector must recognize the role of smallholder farmers as land managers and efficient producers of many important agricultural commodities, including timber.
The reforestation value chain for the Philippines
The Philippines has almost 100 years of reforestation experience. In spite of this long history, reforestation efforts in the country have not reaped much success. In this paper, we propose that a more holistic and sustainable strategy be adopted for reforestation in the Philippines. We propose that a chain of key activities that add value to the whole reforestation be identified right at the start. This “reforestation value chain” (ReV Chain) can then be used as a guide for reforestation projects, from design to implementation to evaluation. Our main thesis is that the success of a reforestation project should take into account each of the components of the value chain right from the very beginning. The ReV Chain has several implications. First, reforestation efforts that address only part of the chain are likely to be unsustainable. In other words, each component of the value chain should be well thought of from the outset of a reforestation project. Second, policy makers and stakeholders will be better informed on where in the chain they can contribute best.
Farmers taking care of business in Kenya: running nurseries and reforesting their land
Farmers taking care of business in Kenya running nuseries and reforesting their land In Kenya, when new land is cleared a. mfor farming it may look like land degradation is inevitable—but farmers then reforest their farms with trees they need and like. For decades now, there have been grave warnings about the alarming rates of tree and shrub destruction in the tropics. These warnings have stressed the disastrous consequences of deforestation and predicted imminent fuelwood deficits across the African continent. However, the reality has been somewhat different from the worst-case scenario promoted by these doom- sayers. In fact, scientists looking at the issues of land degradation, deforestation and population dynamics in Africa are now realizing that these alarmist statements were remiss by not taking into account the value and efforts that farmers on the continent have put into long-term landcare and regeneration. A study com- pleted in 1994 reveals that, contrary to popular belief, Kenyan land cov- John R Parkins ered by trees and shrubs increased 4.2% annually from 1986 to 1992 (Holmgren and others 1994).Research done recently in Mbeere District, Kenya, supports these find-ings at the local level. Amid dramatic changes in land use, the study found that farmer-initiated, small-scale tree nurseries are at the heart of local efforts in reforestation, right on the farms themselves. This shows the relevance of Leakey’s new defini tion of agroforestry as a holistic ap- proach to land use and natural resource management, which will ultimately increase the tree cover in the landscape (1996). To the extent that these nurseries represent farmers’ efforts to integrate trees on their farmland, they are fundamentally important to long-term development of agroforestry in the region. The reasons for recent changes in land use in Mbeere are numerous, but most of these include historic and contemporary developments. The first is the process of land adjudication,which has prevented farmers from practising their traditional ways of grazing cattle and goats on large tracts of unclaimed or communal lands. Adjudication and the subse-quent privatization of land tenure in-hibit farmers from shifting cultivation and provide them with incentives for long-term investment in their land. A second factor is the migration into Mbeere of people from other densely populated regions around Mount Kenya and the resultant increased en- vironmental pressure through encroachment on marginal land and the clearing of indigenous vegetation for.cultivation.
Can Secure Tenure Help Reduce Deforestation?
While land is a crucial asset for most people in rural, hilly area of Sumberjaya, Lampung province, securing land tenure has been a long battle. Long after their establishment in the early 1970s, Forestry Department announced that 30% of the watershed area classified as protected area in 1990 (Verbist and Pasya, 2004). Farmers were demanded to stay away from their managed gardens. Both the process of policy making and the implications of the policy ignited conflict between the farmers and the government, which culminated by the government’s action of farmer eviction from their land in 1991, 1995, and 1996 (Kusworo, 2000). Negotiation support system which is based on social forestry concept was later introduced in the area in 1998, following the starting point of devolution process; a period many called as ‘reformation’ in Indonesia. The system offers more tenure security in the form of rights to manage land inside protected area by the means of preserving remaining forest (stop further deforestation) and planting new tree (‘reforestation’). This concept, generally known as HKm, was instantly accepted by farmers and implemented in 1998. Four years after the HKm enactment, 3 farmer groups, consist of total 292 households, obtained their 5 years HKm permit. Later on in 2006, 16 farmers groups also obtained their permit. Now, 8 years after the enactment of HKm, it is timely to ask whether securer tenure provided by social forestry concept really meets its conservation objectives: to reduce deforestation and to increase tree cover in Sumberjaya watershed.