multipurpose tree species research for small farms: strategies ... - part

and soil deposition originating from their fields on
fields down slope (Littooy 1989). Under the
collective system of land management it was
common for a farmer's cassava plots to be
scattered throughout the area with no relation to
his wet rice plots. Soil from the farmer's cassava
field deposited into rice fields at the fool of the
slope was not his problem, instead it became the
cooperative's responsibility to repair fields and
drainage ditches with their irrigation briga..es. As
the cooperative's resources to pay for such work is
restricted under the new economic policy, the onus
in the future for such repair work will inevitably fall
on the farmer who has been given the right to use
that area of paddy.
A. tiangiiwi has been planted in association
with Tephrosia/tea plantations as discussed earlier,
Since tea requires little or no shade when it
reaches the production phase after 3-4 years, and
the cooperatives have indicated their preference
for a large, single stem as a final product on a 10
year rotation, the dense crown of the Acacia will
have to be frequently and extensively pruned back
so it does not reduce tea yields.
Farmers' Practices
Traditionally, silvicultural practices such as
lopping and pollarding are rare. Although farmers
in West Africa pollardAzadiraclitaindica to
produce small poles to use as rafters, in Vietnam
this construction role is served by bamboo. A.
azedarach is managed to produce stems for cross
beams while branch prunin or ollardin is held
to a minimum to decrease the chaances owod rot.
Coppicin techniques are more common,
particularly with established E. easertastands,
ormerly under the control of the cooperatives or
state, but now managed by families. Farmers will
thin coppice shoots for fuelwood leaving one or
two to grow for construction materials. A more
recent management approach has evolved at one of
the project's fuelwood demonstration sites where
farmers contracted to manage the demonstration
plot on behalf of the cooperative have been given
the freedom to prune theA. mangiwm trees. One
farmer pruned the lower branches every month,
producing a regular volume of wood and leaf
material that he estimated met up to 25% of his
family's total fuel needs,
Such observations suggest that farmers'
management of MPTS has the potential to adapt to
new situations. Research work to date in both
forestry and agriculture has concentrated on the
cooperative system. Consequently, little has been
learned about what farmers consider an optimum
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mix.of products (ie. fuelwood, leaves, or wood),
nor about what tradeoffs they may be prepared
to accept between tree growth and crop
performance. It has only been in the last few
years, given a greater freedom of choice and
decision making, that farmers have started to
experiment wilh different methods and species
combinations.
The Role of MPTS
Within the project area five major land use
issues are considered relevant to small-scale
farmers and could possibly include a role for
MPTS:
- wood production -- tree growing for domestic
use (fuelwood and construction) or for
marketing (fuelwood, construction aad
pulpwood);
- improvement of grazing and fodder
resources; tree fodder;
- short term intercropping -- tree/tree (shrub)
combinations designed to maximize the utility
of land during the establishment phase of
industrial plantations;
- long-term rehabilitation of degraded soils
through the industrial plantation program -interplanting
of MPTS (with industrial
species) or dense planting of MPTS to
conserve and improve the soil with limited
off-take of tree products; and
- development of sustainable upland farming
practices -- both spatial and temporal
mixtures of trees and crops with support to
lowland farming through green manure
production on upland areas.
Under the land allocation program farmers
can expect to receive rights to land varying in
form (upland/lowland), quality, existing
production use (cassavaland, existing forest
plantation, abandoned land) and locale (relative
to settlements). The site-specific characteristics
of the allocated land, and their home and forest
gardens will strongly influence the potential role
of MPTS activities regarding the choice of
species, scale of planting, and tree management.
A farmer with very limited land resources may
need to consider MPTS that can produce
fuelwood and fodder (or green manure) and
improve the soil on very poor hill land in
association with permanent cassava cultivation.
Another farmer with more land may choose to
grow fuelwood as a byproduct from a small