Over-Regulated and Under-Marketed: Smallholders and the Wood Economy in Isabela, The Philippines - Smallholder Tree Growing for Rural Development and Environmental Services - page 159

prefer to integrate timber and fruit trees in a broader livelihood in which annual
crops (corn, rice), bananas and off-farm work play major roles.
Fuelwood for home use, direct sale or charcoal making are partly found in the
communal plantations but mainly sourced from naturally-growing shrub and trees
in patches of secondary re-growth along creeks and in pasture areas (Snelder and
Persoon 2008). Felling of trees and gathering dead wood, thinnings and prunings
are the routine activities for the fuelwood gatherer.

7.4.3 Sub-markets and the Prices for Gmelina

Fuelwood, charcoal and timber are traded on small-scale and largely independent
sub-markets. Local marketing of these commodities are predominantly informal in
terms of price discovery and negotiations. As said, there are two major markets in
the study area that serve as entry points for rural-based goods, with mean distances
from 15 to 23 km from the production sources. Due to long distances from some
villages, there are some minor markets for local exchanges. Table 7.2 shows the key
economic features of the most frequently traded farm-grown tree products by the
farmer-respondents in the study area.
The high number of farmers and weekly selling schedule indicate that fuelwood
is a commodity that can easily be traded by smallholders. There are steady markets
for woodfuels that provide a stable source of income not only for the smallholder
or gatherer but also to shopkeepers due to consistent demand from different types
of buyers. The bulk of fuelwood demand comes from households and small-scale
enterprises such as bakeries, fish-smoking, eateries and small stores. Peak demand
comes during special occasions like town fiestas . Yet, the Table shows that average
income from firewood are low. Contrary to timber or fruits, it is a product without
development potential. Incomes from charcoal can be higher than fuelwood but
only few farmers engage in this specialized trade.
Fresh mangoes, especially of the commercial variety, can provide good income
for the farmers during the peak season. Fresh fruit is a distinct market for small-
holder farmer characterized by profit maximization potential as long as good man-
agement practices are followed. This can be a reason why many farmers say they
would prefer to plant more fruit trees.
On the other extreme, the market for gmelina timber is highly intermittent, with
farmers selling only on incidental orders. Although gmelina timber is becoming
more widely used for light construction and furniture making in recent years, there
is still low degree of market concentration. Gmelina competes with forest hard-
woods for furniture making, and although considerably more expensive, consumers
still prefer the forest species for furniture (Siriban 2006). For construction, end
users also prefer tree species from the forests. The imperfect market for gmelina
can therefore be traced to discontinuities in demand associated with timber volumes
sourced from the forests.
The character of the gmelina market creates a high variability of prices. The
findings of Cortiguerra (2006) showed that in about 81 percent of the cases, the