Foresters' beliefs about farmers: a priority for social science research in social forestry

This study suggests that one of the most productive (and most neglected) uses of social science research in forestry development projects is to examine foresters' beliefs regarding rural peoples. This suggestion is illustrated with data from the Forestry Planning and Development Project, Pakistan's first nation-wide social forestry project.The operational component of this project, intended to assist small farmers to cultivate trees on their farmlands, ran into immediate difficulties. Many of the foresters involved insisted that small farmers were simply not interested in tree cultivation. A comprehensive base-line study subsequently was carried out to examine the validity of this belief. The results of this study (confirmed by the subsequent experience with the project in the field) varied markedly from the foresters' beliefs.While many of the foresters believed small farmers were opposed to having trees on their farms and would not agree to plant trees under the project, most farmers already had trees on their farms and expressed interest in planting more; while many foresters believed farmers would only be interested in planting large blocks of market-oriented exotics, most farmers requested small plantings of multi-purpose native trees; while many foresters believed farmers would plant trees only for market sale, most farmers requested trees to meet household needs for fuel and timber; and while many foresters did not think that increasing supplies of fuelwood could reduce the burning of dung, all of the evidence provided by the farmers suggested that it would.The disparity between farmer reality and forester belief is attributed to failures on the part of both foresters and social scientists — failure by foresters to distinguish their non-empirical beliefs about farmers from their empirically-based knowledge of trees, and failure by social scientists to recognize the belief systems of foresters as a legitimate and important object of study. Their study comprises three parts: finding out what the foresters think the farmers want, finding out from the farmers what they actually want, and then analyzing and explaining the differences.     

The use of compensatory and non-compensatory multi-criteria analysis for small-scale forestry

Small-scale farm forestry has the potential to offer many benefits both to landholders and the wider community. As with all changes in land-use practices, there are associated benefits and costs and these are not uniformly distributed. They have varying impacts on the different values, aspirations, goals and objectives that exist within the community. Furthermore, the community does not consider these values, aspirations, goals and objectives of equal importance. The degree of concern can vary from minor to high and overriding all other considerations. When evaluating farm forestry options it is necessary to address all of these concerns. This paper examines the combined use compensatory and non-compensatory multi-criteria analyses to evaluate forestry options, in a case study for the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia. These aggregation techniques are found to be highly complementary and together provide a comprehensive analysis. The compensatory technique provides a sound measure of overall performance of a forestry system, whereas the non-compensatory technique alerts decision-makers to presence of particularly poor performance with respect to individual criteria. The compensatory technique used is simple and understandable even for those with non-mathematical backgrounds. This analysis can identify and aid communication of the relative benefits and costs, and trade-offs, between economic, environmental and social considerations.     

Stand basal area as an index of tree competitiveness in timber intercropping

To derive optimal benefits from intercropping timber, farmers should make important initial decisions on tree species and planting density with a good understanding of their tradeoffs. Complex and data-intensive models used by researchers should be supplemented with simpler models based on easily measured parameters and easily understood competition functions. In experiments in the Philippine uplands, growth parameters of three popular farm-forestry species (Eucalyptus deglupta, E. torelliana, and Paraserianthes falcataria) were measured, along with intercropped and non-intercropped yields of maize and vegetables. The commonly used forestry parameter of stand basal area had a significant negative correlation with intercrop yields (as a percentage of non-intercropped yields). The slope of the regression line differed between species; in this study, percent yield loss per unit stem basal area growth was in the order E. deglupta > E. torelliana > P. falcataria. The relationship between stand basal area and intercrop-yield decline was tested on an independent data set from China. Intercrop yields had significant negative correlations with stand basal area of Paulownia elongata. We propose that adaptive tree-screening trials evaluate competitiveness in addition to evaluating growth and mortality. Stand basal area may be better suited to this task than more mechanistic indices such as leaf-area index as it is easy to measure, calculate, and understand, and it may serve as a better index of total (aboveground + belowground) competition. Basal area is also directly related to tree volume, and allows farmers to more easily evaluate the economic tradeoffs between tree growth and intercrop-yield declines. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

塞罕坝林场华北落叶松人工林生长模型的研究

对塞罕坝林场华北落叶松人工林标准地的平均木和优势木进行树干解析,通过11m、13m、15m地位指数级的72株平均解析木和36株优势解析木资料,对华北落叶松人工林的胸径、材积与年龄之间的生长过程利用6种数学模型进行拟合,从中选出最优模型,并对模型进行检验,得出结论:在建立生长模型时应分别不同地位指数级进行;不同的生长因子须选择不同的生长模型拟合才能达到最佳效果;通过适应性检验,各回归方程拟合良好。     

国营林场产权制度改革探讨——以山西省杨树丰产林实验局云西林场为例

本文针对国营林场产权制度存在的主要问题,借鉴国有林权制度改革的经验,提出国营林场产权制度改革的初步设想。     

Marketing constraints for Eucalyptus from farm lands in India

During the early eighties farmers in north-west India planted Eucalyptus on a massive scale for sale as poles and pulpwood. However, after 1986 farmers in this region have almost stopped growing Eucalyptus, as their experience with its marketing was not a happy one. The pole market got saturated, paper mills did not pay a remunerative price, and fuelwood prices were low and uneconomical. More important, because of legal restrictions on the transport and sale of wood, and other institutional factors, the gap in the farmgate price and the consumer price remained very wide. Wood markets have, on the whole, exploited the farmers, rather than helped them. Due to this, the short period of flirtation with tree crops seems to be over for at least resident farmers in those very areas in north-west India where they had so enthusiastically planted Eucalyptus in the early 1980s.Abbreviations BDO Block Development Officer - Headloaders poor people who collect firewood on their heads from forest lands for consumption and sale - m ha million hectares - Rs Indian Rupee 16 Rs = 1 US Dollar in 1989 - panchayat elected village organisation - pradhan village chief On study leave from the Government of India to the Oxford Forestry Institute, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3RB, U.K. Present address: 17 Ponnappa Road, Allahabad 211001, India     

Agroforestry in the interior highlands

The USDA Agricultural Research Service, headquartered at the South Central Family Farm Research Center, Booneville, Arkansas, recently initiated an agroforestry research program for the interior highlands and the southeastern United States. The purpose of the agroforestry program is to develop a research and technology transfer program in agroforestry that will provide additional alternative income opportunities for family farms of this region. The objectives of the program are: 1) to develop new information on the establishment, maintenance, and utilization of conifer and hardwood tree stands in open pastures, 2) to develop new knowledge in multiple-use management and their environmental impacts, and 3) to facilitate multidisciplinary networks and partnerships of farmers, technical specialists, scientists, and managers for accomplishing agroforestry research and technology transfer.     

森林分类经营的指标体系和技术标准

在简述林业分类经营背景的基础上,提出了林业分类经营的原则,重点提出了商品林和公益林分类指标体系和技术标准,最后探讨了国有林场的分类经营。     

Impact of agroforestry intervention on farm income under the subsistence farming system of the middle hills, Nepal

Practices that minimize the rate of soil degradation, increase crop yields and raise farm income are key to sustaining agricultural productivity in the hills of Nepal. The use of farmland is undergoing rapid changes in response to increasing population pressure, deforestation and subsistence needs. Against this background, this study examined the impact of an agroforestry intervention project on farm income based on a sample of subsistence farm households in Dhadhing district. The project was implemented by Nepal Agroforestry Foundation in 1993/94 to increase fodder production through the promotion of agroforestry. A total of 223 households (82 with project and 141 without project) were interviewed during May–October 1998 to collect information on production and agroforestrys' impact on farm income. The benefit-cost analysis showed that the agricultural system including agroforestry was more profitable than the conventional one. The results also showed that the introduction of mulberry trees for sericulture could further enhance the profitability of an agroforestry-based system. Thus, agroforestry has great potential for enhancing food production and farmers' economic conditions in a sustainable manner through its positive contributions to household income.This revised version was published online in November 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

国有林场树种结构调整及稳定性分析--以湖南省国有武冈林场为例

运用目标规划模型对湖南省国有武冈林场的森林树种结构进行优化,得到其理想的树种结构,然后计算出理想树种结构的信息熵和信息熵相对值,用于评价该场的树种结构稳定性.评价结果表明:该场1990～1999年的树种结构信息熵变化不大,稍有增势,比理想的树种结构信息熵偏小,这说明该场现有的树种结构处于过于有序状态,即,人工干扰过大,会损失某些利用功能.该评价结果可为其森林经营结构的调整提拱科学的参考依据.