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

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household characteristics. The degree of accuracy of the information provided to the students, particularly on income and land ownership, can be concluded from the following typical reaction of three villagers: We don't know who they actually are, how can we tell them the truth? They claimed to be students but who knows, ihey may be government agents coming to investigate us. Anyway, we simply said something so they would leave as soon as possible. We don't want any trouble from them. The second survey was conducted by the Division of New Villages Development of the Ministry of -lousing and Local Government, Malaysia. A date was set for the District New Village Development Officer to gather socioeconomic data fi'om the villageis. Since most villagc;s do not read or write Bahasa Malay.,ia, the national language, questions were asked in local Chinese dialccts (ie. Cdntonese, Teochiew and Hakka) and cuestionnaires were filled in by the District New village Development Officer, who was Chinese. The local headman was available to provide whatever assistance was needed. When questions were asked about land ownership, income, and household composition, many villagers did not reveal the truth. The following situations are typical. Understatement of Income Levels This woman is not certain about declaring her monthly household income. She asked the headman: Brother, how much should I reveal about my household's income? Is it all right to tell my husband's income and exclude my earnings? My husband told me to state a low income level, The headman replied: Don't worry. This is just a common survey taken by the government from time to time. Simply E,:ve an amount. What about $300 a month? I know you earn more than that. Mr. Lee, write down $300 as her household income. Underdeclaration of Land Ownership A typical comment from the hedman to a farmer who said he didn't own any land: How can you claim to be landless? Everyone knows you own a few acres of oil 33 palms. What about the other land (ie. illegal land) you cultivate? Anyway, Mr. Lee, you can write down what he said. I don't want to create any unnecessary problems. Understatement of Employment and Housing A head of household told the New Village Development Officer there were 12 members in his household, none of whom owned land, and that they faced problems of unemployment and underemployment. He also claimed that their house of two rooms was too small for them. The officer recorded exactly what the man said. The headman pointed out that the information was incorrect. There were, in fact, only five family members in the village, while the rest were migrant laborers working clsewhere. None of the family was unemployed. General Answers to General Questions In response to questions about the main problems facing households, the normal answers were "no land", "no work" and "poverty". By observing these two surveys of a rural community, it is obvious that whatever information wasgathered revealed only limited understanding of the actual situation. In fact, because of the understatement of income, land ownership, employment and so on, the real issues and problems facing the community were not highlighted. The following important information is not clear: the condition of land ownership; the extent of illegal land cultivation; the pattern of employment and division of labor by gender; the unemployment situation; and reliable levels and sources of household income. Observation of the same phenomena by researchers doing fieldwork in other communities supports the doubt about the validity of statistics obtained by survey questionnaires in the developing world (Alers 1983; Malla and Fisher 1987). The author's observations confirmed that the major factor leading to unreliable data in survey questionnaires is suspicion about the real motives of the survey. This is not surprising at all as "many people are apt to treat local researchers as government agents" (Lee 1982). The Par'ticipantObservation Method Aware that rural Chinese are suspicious of outsiders and of the limitations of the survey method in collecting reliable data, the author
used the participant observation method. This method involves an in-depth study of the village, It relied on a variety of methods to gather data including participation and -observation of events when they occur, the use of knowledgeable local informants, discussion and informal interviewing (Bulmer 1983). Using this method, suspicion about the motives of the researcher was minimized as the fie'dwork in Pelawan lasted three and a half months, long enough to establish good rapport with the villagers, During the fieldwork, the author participated in the daily activities of the villagers, ranging from farm work, preparing for religicus ceremonies, writing letters for illiterate villagers to tutoring students. After gaining their general acceptance, the participant observation method worked out well In addition to data collected by informal discussion interviews and recording of important events, an informal survey was conducted on the socioeconomic profile of 41 households. All the data were cross-checked with knowledgeable local informants, By this method, insights into the villagers' socioeconomic profile, their problems and needs were revealed. The following is a summary of the problems and issues of the rural farmers in the New Village: - two-thirds of the total households own agricultural land under oil palm or rubber cultivation. The total land area is small. Among land owning households, 90% own three acres or less; - 94% of the economically active labor force is engaged in agricultural activities; - of the total labor force, only 4% are unemployed (the unemployment rate islower than the national level of 7.6% in 1985); - of the total labor force, 37% are selfemployed, 39% are unpaid family workers, and 20% work for others; - 71% of the total unpaid family workers are women engaging in agricultural activities (the role of women isthus very important in generating income in the agricultural sector); - of the total households, 20% farmed on rented lanl under a maximum lease period of two years; - 54% and 22% of the total households practiced illegal farming on mine-concession land and state 34 forest reserves, 3 respectively (this source of employment isnot secure in the long run); - of the total household income, about 40% isderived from cultivation of rented land, mine-concession land and state forest reserves (these sources of income are insecure in the long run); - the average monthly gross household income isR$746 or US$298. This is lower than R$1,095 (US$438) per month for all 4 households in Peninsular Malaysia in 1984; and - the incidence of poverty was 5%(this is lower than the 18% for Peninsular Malaysia in 1984). From the above findings, it is obvious that data collected using the participant observation method are more reiiable than the previous two surveys conducted in the same village. In the participant observation method, information was gathered only after the villagers had accepted the researcher and were willing to reveal their actual socioeconomic situation. With close rapport between the researcher and the rural farmers, important information on illegal farming on the mine concessions and forest reserves was obtained. This had not been disclosed to the interviewers in the two previous surveys. Implications for MPTS Projects Although the author's study did not directly relate to MPTS planting in the rural community, findings from the participant observation method provide some pointers. The situation found in this village can be extrapolated to other agricultural rural villages which are similar in terms of land use. The planting of trees for multiple uses is not new to the villagers. Rubber trees and oil palms are planted on farmer-owned land. The products are sold as a cash crop while the branches or leaves are used as fuelwood and fencing materials. For rural farqiers in Malaysia and other countries, the term MPTS may be new but planting trees for multiple uses is not (Sastrapradja 1989). Rural residents have been planting fruit trees such as banana (Musa spp.), cempedak (Artocarpusspp.), duku and langsat (Lansiutn spp.), durian (Durozibethinus),
Page 1 and 2: Proceedings of an International Con
Page 3 and 4: MULTIPURPOSE TREE SPECIES RESEARCH
Page 5 and 6: Session 3: Determining Extension, I
Page 7 and 8: Preface While a great deal of inter
Page 9 and 10: Participants of the conference, lad
Page 11 and 12: The establishment and continued gro
Page 13 and 14: Session 1: Determining End Uses, De
Page 15 and 16: preliminary studies. Cross-cultural
Page 17 and 18: farm and village forestry practices
Page 19 and 20: group. A village in Thailand or Nep
Page 21 and 22: fit within the structure of each of
Page 23 and 24: There is a growing literature on vi
Page 25 and 26: A. heterophyla isplanted in homegar
Page 27 and 28: Data Analysis The results of an exe
Page 29 and 30: Table 1. Dependency test between ho
Page 31: Survey and Participant Observation
Page 35 and 36: needs to stay in the village for an
Page 37 and 38: A Descriptive Research Method to Es
Page 39 and 40: Important external data sources for
Page 41 and 42: Although a discussion of statistica
Page 43 and 44: demanded by consumers and the payme
Page 45 and 46: Table 2. Components and goals of th
Page 47 and 48: through a form of informal collusiv
Page 49 and 50: Information about the current envir
Page 51 and 52: importance to Sri Lankan society as
Page 53 and 54: Table 1. Major aspects considered i
Page 55 and 56: Table 2. Common perennial species.
Page 57 and 58: able to purchase basic inputs. Duri
Page 59 and 60: Session 2: Evaluating the Supply of
Page 61 and 62: The status of fuelwood utilization
Page 63 and 64: consume 184,990m 3 of fuclwood per
Page 65 and 66: References Boonyavechewin, S. and B
Page 67 and 68: loan, the decision is based on the
Page 69 and 70: subsidizes poor farmers. The govern
Page 71 and 72: Table 1. Components and expected ou
Page 73 and 74: traditional and simple with few exc
Page 75 and 76: levels. Education curricula should
Page 77 and 78: Session 3: Determining Extension, I
Page 79 and 80: or from scientific analysis of such
Page 81 and 82: Similarly, in another country, tria
Page 83 and 84:
aiming at commercial markets. The t
Page 85 and 86:
Multipurpose Tree Species in Agrofo
Page 87 and 88:
Table 2. Number of fruit trees plan
Page 89 and 90:
Research should be designed to impr
Page 91 and 92:
The majority of farmers can not aff
Page 93 and 94:
and worked with them in both projec
Page 95 and 96:
Timber is needed by most of the far
Page 97 and 98:
home. In Maharashtra State, several
Page 99 and 100:
Methodologies are reviewed for anal
Page 101 and 102:
Development (NERAD) Project is an a
Page 103 and 104:
small-scale charcoal manufacturing.
Page 105 and 106:
Table 1. Hypothetical logit test re
Page 107 and 108:
hectare of cultivated land requires
Page 109 and 110:
The farmers' choice of species lead
Page 111 and 112:
References Abell, T.M.B. 1981. Fucl
Page 113 and 114:
Session 4: Orienting Research Effor
Page 115 and 116:
Research mus. concentrate on these
Page 117 and 118:
esearch scientists. Many crop and f
Page 119 and 120:
Improving the Effectiveness of Mult
Page 121 and 122:
western half of Timor. It is the po
Page 123 and 124:
crops will result in less land bein
Page 125 and 126:
compete with the tree crop in the f
Page 127 and 128:
Small Farm Multipurpose Tree Specie
Page 129 and 130:
The usual solution is to pilot test
Page 131 and 132:
The CENRO offices which are scatter
Page 133 and 134:
problem and begin work on a solutti
Page 135 and 136:
and industrial levels, as well as s
Page 137 and 138:
agicultural crops. Many of these ga
Page 139 and 140:
woodlot and grow cassava using a cr
Page 141 and 142:
local interest in the wo.-k on MPTS
Page 143 and 144:
Tree improvemqnt efforts by forest
Page 145 and 146:
the mother trees for their homegard
Page 147 and 148:
Table 2. General steps required to
Page 149 and 150:
Applying Fanning Systems Research C
Page 151 and 152:
Planning Diagnosis is only useful i
Page 153 and 154:
approach that is already known abou
Page 155 and 156:
Research Plans and Metotls Based on
Page 157 and 158:
leaves make good fertilizer, althou
Page 159 and 160:
Ref.rences Amir, P., R.C. Hawkins a
Page 161 and 162:
The growing importance of small-sca
Page 163 and 164:
taking into account possible effect
Page 165 and 166:
Poster Session Presentations / /
Page 167 and 168:
planned bulletiii. are provided, bu
Page 169 and 170:
L. leucocephala is the most well kn
Page 171 and 172:
Table 4. Probability significance (
Page 173 and 174:
Recently, systematic research on im
Page 175 and 176:
Table 2. Annual Paulownia exports,
Page 177 and 178:
Forest policy formulated in India u
Page 179 and 180:
vigorously, reaching the pre-thinne
Page 181 and 182:
Table 1. List of species for degrad
Page 183 and 184:
Table 3. Productivity potential of
Page 185 and 186:
candidate must withstand certain ed
Page 187 and 188:
arising from the fact that at the f
Page 189 and 190:
Table 1. Soil properties from the e
Page 191 and 192:
Table 5. Analysis of variance of Si
Page 193 and 194:
Capsule Method of Cultivation in Se
Page 195 and 196:
Table 2. Comparison of average stem
Page 197 and 198:
Table 1. Area and species planted i
Page 199 and 200:
Table 4. P.falcataria related enter
Page 201 and 202:
The Marketing System The marketing
Page 203 and 204:
The field trip, organized by the Fo
Page 205 and 206:
213 213 em
Page 207 and 208:
Participants Marian delos Angeles S
Page 209:
Syed Zahir Sadeque AST/CIDA House 6
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