The Reforestation Value Chain for the Philippines - Smallholder Tree Growing for Rural Development and Environmental Services - page 186

9.3 The Reforestation Value Chain (ReV Chain) Approach

One of the main reasons for the failure of reforestation projects in the Philippines
is the short term planning and implementation of a great majority of projects. Tree
planting projects typically last for three years from seedling propagation to planting
and maintenance. After the three-year period, most of the trees planted eventually
die or are cut. Thus, in the long term, areas “reforested” revert back to grasslands
or brush lands. Many reasons can be cited why trees do no survive after the project
is over. One common reason is that the reforested land is often claimed by farmers.
After project staff leaves, the farmer cuts the trees and resumes farming activity. In
other cases, the open access nature of reforested land coupled with the high demand
for fuel wood results to cutting of trees. It is also not unknown for local people to
intentionally burn reforested lands because of real or imagined injustices.
In all of the above, reforestation is viewed as a mere tree planting activity with-
out regard to the other factors that are essential to the long term sustainability of
tree planting. For example, many tree planting projects do not have a well-thought
out plan for what to do after tree establishment (e.g. marketing).
In this paper, I propose that a more holistic and sustainable strategy be adopted
for reforestation in the Philippines based on the “value chain” approach originally
conceptualized by Porter (1985) to enhance the competitive advantage of business
enterprises. A “ value chain describes the full range of activities which are required
to bring a product or service from conception, through the different phases of pro-
duction (involving a combination of physical transformation and the input of vari-
ous producer services), delivery to final consumers, and final disposal after use ”
(Kaplinsky and Morris 2005). While value chain analysis has been applied in dif-
ferent types of industries and at various scales from firm to nations (Sturgeon 2001;
Kaplinksy et al. 2003; Elloumi 2004), it has not been applied to reforestation
viewed as an enterprise.
Porter distinguished between two general types of activities, primary and sec-
ondary activities. Primary activities are directly concerned with the creation or
delivery of a product or a service (Recklies 2001). On the other hand, support
activities facilitate primary activities such as human resources management, infra-
structure, and research.
The whole series of activities in a reforestation project can be viewed as a chain
similar to any enterprise. The difference being that here the output is not a com-
mercial product or service but environmental rehabilitation and socio-economic
upliftment through tree planting. Thus, it is proposed that a chain of key activities
that add value to the whole reforestation be identified right at the very beginning of
the project. This “ reforestation value chain ” (or ReV Chain) can then be used as a
guide for reforestation projects, from design to implementation to evaluation.
Figure 9.4 shows the generic reforestation value chain for Philippine reforestation
projects. The middle boxes are the key activities that add value to the reforesta-
tion process. These correspond to the primary activities under Porter's value chain
approach. The left boxes show the key stakeholders who should be involved in each
of the value-adding activity (middle boxes). The right boxes show the outputs that