Smallholder Timber Production along the Forest Transition Curve: a portfolio of Options for

Smallholders in the new Peruvian Forest Law

Valentina Robiglio, Elena Castro & Martin Reyes

IUFRO 3.08 International ConferenceSmall-Scale and Community Forestry and the Changing Nature of Forest Landscapes11-15 October, 2015Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

forest rich low deforestation country (0.14% of DR, 2001-2011)

Introduction: Area of study

forest rich low deforestation country (0.14% of DR, 2001-2011)

Surface 10.35 M haPopulation 471 351Forest 9.6M ha / Non Forest 557 t haImportant timber production region both for the domesticand export sector

Introduction: Area of study

Very fast growing pioneer species, typical of alluvial soils of Selva Baja, grows mainly on seasonally flooded areas and abandoned/fallow areas, in almost pure and dense stands;

Recent market boom has stimulated a great proportion of smallholders in Ucayali to produce that timber, a great proportion of the marketed volume comes from smallholder systems

Can be harvested after 5 - 7 years

• 8 a 12 meter high

• diameters of ~ 20 cm

Establishment and Management techniques

• Retention of seed bearers and tendering of natural regeneration in fallows in combination with annual crops

• Transplantation and thinning in combination of annual crops rotation

• Plantations

Bolaina (Guazuma crinita )

*Corresponding quantities per Sears and Pinedo 2014**Authors’ estimates based on market interviews

Producers participate to varying degrees along the production chain, increasing their profits by selling at different stages.• sell the standing trees;• fell the trees, cut logs to size, and sell these logs (tucos) to a

buyer at their farm gate or at a market; or• contract / invite a mobile sawmill operator to transform the

logs to small-dimension lumber (tablillas) in situ.

Production chain

Based on Putzel et al. 2013

Research question:

what are the factors influencing the adoption of a specific production system?how does the new Peruvian forestry law facilitate the recognition of the multiple practices used by smallholders and support their integration into the formal forest sector?

Research question:

what are the factors influencing the adoption of a specific production system?how does the new Peruvian forestry law facilitate the recognition of the multiple practices used by smallholders and support their integration into the formal forest sector?

Rudel, T. K., O. T. Coomes, E. Moran, F. Achard, A. Angelsen, J. Xu, and E. Lambin., 2005.Perz S.G., 2007.

Framing land use change and conversionprocesses

Study on determinants of management systems : Identifying production areas

15 villages identified and characterized (15 FGw, 140HH s)

The gradient in forest cover shows an important range, villages with minimum of 20% of def. areas

Land Titling

• The percentage of bolaina producers varies across the villages (5-60%); there is not a clear pattern in relation to the forest cover gradient described.

• The villages differ for the relative importance in production of annual and perennial crops (in particular cacao but also oil palm) and in relation to that the extension of bolaina production; there is not a clear pattern in relation to the forest cover gradient described.

• Governmental programs are ongoing in 2 villages (promote plantations) ;

• Governmental programs existed in the 90’es but were abandoned;

• Cacao promoted by donors and governmental agencies has become the most important crop in 50% of the villages;

• Farmers report a negative relationship between the expansion of permanent systems and the production of bolaina (reduction of suitable surfaces available);

Preliminary Results: Focus group results

• High turnover of farmers in the villages. >50% for less then 10 years (10% for less than 5). Only some members of the household leave in the village (on average 2-4);

• 87% of the farmers crop annual crops the (Corn, 37%, Plantain 34% and Rice 14%), the relative importance of each changes across the villages. In recent years cacao has been rapidly expanding, promoted by governmental agencies has become the most important crop in the villages (50%);

• Heterogeneity in land holding size . 50% have less than 25ha, 90% less than 50 ha. Variation of land holding size across villages along the deforestation gradient;

• more than 60% of farmers maintain fallows of various ages (63 %YF, 29% MF, 25%OF). The distribution of fallows in age classes vary significantly along the deforestation gradient, with young fallows dominating in the less forested areas and in the forest rich areas;

• About 40% of the farmers own forest remnants . Forest rich farmers are found in the less deforested villages;

Preliminary Results: HH survey

• 60% of the farmers hold a land title , 30 is “possession”. There are significantly less farmers with title in the intermediary and forest rich villages (only 88%, 45% and 43%);

• The n. years of presence is smaller in the more forested areas where the presence of Andean colonists is higher.

• The level of engagement in the production of Bolaina and in off-farm activities relate to the origin of the farmers and the time of residence in the village;

• In the more deforested villages the number of HH members living in the village is significantly smaller than in the forest rich villages;

Preliminary Results: HH survey

• The land allocated to Bolaina and the investment dedicated to (production system /type of marketed / type of products) depend on the farmer land holding size. Farmers with small holdings and extensive production are the most frequent (41%) in particular concentrate in the communities with intermediary forest cover

• In the most important producing villages bolaina (where % of producers is high) is managed according to local schemes and is part of the agricultural production cycles;

• Practices vary along the forest transition curve with farmers harvesting significantly more from short fallow rotations in all the sites but also from regenerated pastures and plantations in the villages with less forest cover

• Declared size distribution and the average number of bolaina trees per hectare varies among households, more “intensively” by the ones with longer residence in the area or originating from there;

• Tablillas is the most frequent way to sell and is common to the different land cover classes, however it seems to be more e important in the sites with intermediary cover whereas in the sites with less cover sale of standing trees is the most spread way in contrast with the sites with high forest cover where the tucos are as common as the sale of tablillas

• Farmers with larger land holding and important off farm income (9%) are the ones the produce more and get the highest benefits . They are found in low forest cover villages

Preliminary Results: HH survey

Elements to design successful schemes to promote bolainaproduction :

• Tenure conditions

• Land use composition of the non forest area: type of crops and maintenance/expansion of the fallow based rotational systems versus permanent systems (the massive production comes from the fallows);

• Local ecological knowledge and social capital ( the origin of the farmer and the time of residence in the area are important), the intervention of projects in the past (consider lessons learned)

• Livelihood strategies (off farm jobs and size of the land) relate to the management, the capacity to invest in the processing and the final benefit from the harvesting of Bolaina;

• Local context , in the area of study forest transition seems a good proxi to describe local socio-ecological conditions that relate to management, timber processing and marketing strategies

Reglamento of the new Ley Forestal y de Fauna Silvestre (Ley No. 29763)…are the management of natural regeneration and of fallows to produce timber legal?

1. Definition of AFS system includes the concept of temporal succession2. Small scale timber producing farmers will have access to incentives similar to the

ones in the agricultural sector3. Tenure status and location are the entry point of a series of prescriptions on

managing plantations or AFS3. Agroforestry Concessions on entire land holding

Plantation and AFS

Private Land Public Domain

Date of Law approval

Plantations and Agroforestry Concession

Plantation and AFS for timber production with no Management Plan but recorded in the Registry

Old Growth Forest and Secondary forest, including natural regeneration with simplified Management Declaration

Registry

Not Clear / Dispalced???

Conclusions

Relatively favorable policy context under the new forestry law. Political willingness to include smallholders…How to make it successful?

1. Effort to facilitate implementation of multiple management schemes improved and adapted to the households characteristics : characterize systems for key parameters productivity, quality , economic management labor and knowledge implication of each system to be assessed against livelihoods strategies, associated production systems, and not only as a technology per se.

2. Flexibility and adaptability of technological proposal including the design of packages of financial and non financial incentives tailored to different types of farmers and the type of technical assistance offered.

3. Spatial contextualization of technological offer ( eg. for ex. in relation to the FT curve )

THANK YOU!

3. FT curve in Ucayali:

Heterogenous pattern of forest loss and conversion (temporal and spatial)

59.4%

96.7%

7.2%1.0%

51.7%

Deforestation rate

Percentage of permanentforest domain

2.1%

3.1%

2.8%1.5%

0.8%0.01%

0.005%

Forest frontier (FFT) refers to the forest margin areas of colonization zones, usually characterized by the presence of pioneer or small- farmer colonists that via a transitional process is incorporated into an economy. Deforestation at FFs is characterized by a sequential dynamic.

2. Framing land use change and conversion processes

Richards M. 1996.