Nursery and Vegetation Surveys

Sustaining Tree Supply From Farms: Experiences on small holder timber and Nurseries

ICRAF’s Tree Domestication Course 17th-22nd November, 2003

ICRAF HOUSE, Nairobi, Kenya.

Sammy Carsan, ICRAF

•Concerns about farms as sustainable supply of wood,

•Farms small and scattered, industry feels costly in terms of operations

•Farmers with trees on farm want a return for the tree resources

•No definite market for farms timber.

•Fuel wood supplies 68% of national energy requirements;estimated demand is 32M tonnes.

Resources base is estimated at a standing stock of 33.4 Million cubic meters.

•Trees on farms provide 84% of total consumption, gazette forests and trust lands provide 8% each.

•89% and 6% of rural and urban households use wood fuel respectively.

•87% and 34% of urban and rural households use charcoal respectively.

•National charcoal consumption 2.4M tonnes, business turnover estim. at Ksh 23 billion (ca $300M)(Min of Energy, 2002)

Why nursery and vegetation surveys?

Focus on farmer trees and products enterprises…

•Analyze existing situationIdentify target group: PRA exercises, farmer surveys, local baraza•Identify existing resources and products for identified target group.Raise awareness on the benefits of working together (collective action)Analyze policy & legislation governing tree business.

Rapid farm surveys to catalogue the richness of diversity, its distribution and potential economic value.Forestry inventory techniques used to assess woody biomass on farmsConduct chain surveys (know constraints)Tree species on farms Niche,Germplasm source,Tree shape (form)•DBH (diameter at breast height)•Multiplier (use tally system)

Some findings from on farms biomass surveys…

DBH Class Distribution

3 926

56 58

99

5872 70

175

2 1134

76

138

269

143

206

124

282

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

1 -

5

6 -

10

11

- 1

5

16

- 2

0

21

- 2

5

26

- 3

0

31

- 3

5

36

- 4

0

41

- 4

5

>4

5

DBH class

Vo

lum

es

in

cu

bic

Me

ters

volume (m3) coffee

volume (m3) cotton

DBH Class distribution

0

200

400

600

800

1 -

5

6 -

10

11 -

15

16 -

20

21 -

25

26 -

30

31 -

35

36 -

40

41 -

45

>45

DBH cLass

No

. of

ste

ms

stems coffee zone stems cotton zone

•More woody biomass in the Cotton zone than coffee zone

•Timber and fuel wood needs target areas identified•More stems in the cotton zone than coffee zone- area of important harvesting identified

•More species composition in Cotton zone than coffee zone•Economic value identified•Current and future planting niches identified.

•Germplasm demand forecasted•Woody interventions addressed (management, expansion, substitution, replacement)

More findings..•Over 23 tree species mentioned as preferences timber and fuel wood

•Total biomass count over 35 farms found ca 267 species per farm

•There trends of use of certain species, Grevillea, Eucalyptus gained importance as timber

•Choices are in response to market signals.

Computing usable volume (stem volume from stump to tip)

ln(v)=a+bln(d)

V-usable volume (dm3)

D-diameter at breast height (cm)

a ad b are constants constants and are for different tree forms

Tree type parameter (a) Parameter(b) Source

1 -2.2945 2.5703 Laasasenaho 1982

2 -1.7322 2.3992 Pukkala 1989

3 -1.6493 2.3567 Pukkala 1989

4 -1.6840 2.2406 Pukkala 1989

Nurseries as the engine for farms tree planting

•Deliberate and planned tree planting activity

•Nurseries as an additional farm tree enterprise

•Strategic point to diversifying farms & other planting programmes

• Operators as extension agents, e.g. Kenya MoA has 7200 extn staff only

•Good point to forecast germplasm supply and demand

•Quality planting material realized with more farmers producing seedlings for own need

Nursery outputs…

•94 E. Africa nurseries produce 1m seedlings (Ave. 10-15,000 seedlings/year

•15-20,000 nurseries needed in ICRAF target countries over 10 yrs

•10% fruit, 6% timber, 40%fodder, 5% fuelwood, 40 % fences and 1% medicinals

Table 1: Projected needs of seedlings over the next 10 years (ICRAF, 2000b).

use ICRAF calculation (million)

ICRAF calculation (% of 1.84 billion seedlings)

ECA data (% of 1.05 million seedlings)*

fruit 167 9.1 2.3

timber

119 6.5 17.4

fodder

685 37.3 2.1

fuelwood

92 5.0 30.6

medicine

19 1.0 8.2

fences 755 41.1 39.4

* H. Jaenicke et al. (2001)

Organizational Forms

Central

Group

Individual

Should be used.. Some of the problems..

•when water is scarce•Species with special attention, •Slow growing, new introd. etc•For training

•Large distances to planting sites•Nobody responsible, often bad supervision•‘White elephants’-prestige objects

•when tree planting and nursery production are new activities (training)•community is closely knitted •well-functioning groups exist•when species are for own use

•responsibilities often unclear•groups often unstable•nursery neglected when only an add-on to other group activities• high transaction costs

•when small no.s of seedlings are raised for own use • seedling production is commercial•for large species variety•for special techniques (e.g., fruit trees specialist)

•risky enterprise in areas where there is no tree planting culture• require active promotion & information exchange•May lack technical know-how and inputs

Nursery management optionsSmall scale nurseries backbone of sustainable efforts to increase the numbers and diversity of trees on small scale farms.

Nursery Forms….

•Each category plays an important role within seedlings sector.•Some species difficult to raise, have long nursery cycles or require specialized equipmentShort rotation easy to raise.

•Nursery associations-to create linkages in all the forms and (enhance information exchange)Harness bargaining power

Some Weaknesses..

•Technical knowledge

•Appropriate germplasm and seedling quality

•Functional market information systems

•Training and information exchange

Future thrusts…

•Overall number of nurseries need to be assessed (develop new or strengthen existing)

•National estimates needed to assess opportunities

•Raise species with balance of functional groups and market focus

Challenges..

•Communities are heterogeneous, tree interests will fragment social cultural and ecological situations

•Increase in seedlings numbers and avail to clients

•Balance priority and functional use

•Suitable organizational forms

•Seeds problem or an excuse?

•Linking operators with buyers market information

‘All tree species are equal, but some are more equal than others’-George Orwell

‘Diversity makes a difference’

- Ard Lengkeek