Keys to Smallholder Forestry

ABSTRACT Most commercial forest plantations have been developed on a large scale, by governments and corporations. Smallholder plantation forestry (including farm woodlots and agro-forestry) has been seen as an anomaly which requires special governmental assistance schemes and subsidies. This paper argues that tree-farming is a quite normal and common economic undertaking for small farmers and investors, wherever particular conditions are met and obstacles are not placed in the way. The paper is based on the author's personal experience and observations in many developing countries of Asia and Africa, as well as Australia, North America and Europe, over the past thirty years. These observations cover over 20 contexts in which farm forestry has flourished, and over 40 where it either has failed, or has not been tried. By reflecting on this diverse experience, the author has attempted to identify some general ‘rules of thumb’ and the preconditions for success, so that research and development efforts or policy interventions can be focused to remove the key impediments and disincentives. Many previous ‘assistance schemes’ for smallholder forestry have been ineffective because they took a very partial or inaccurate view of smallholder decision-making, which failed to recognise explicitly the interconnections between production, markets and policies.