Restoration of Philippine Native Forest by Smallholder Tree Farmers - Smallholder Tree Growing for Rural Development and Environmental Services - page 313

of good mother trees. This dysgenic practice has critically depleted the genetic
pools leaving mostly poor quality mother trees or juvenile trees unable to bear
abundant fruits and seeds. Additionally, these trees are located in remote and often
inaccessible sites making collection extremely difficult. The prevalence of this situ-
ation in many parts of the country has significantly decreased the availability of
good quality germplasm and is a major debacle in the wide-scale planting of ITS.

15.3.2 The Mindanao and Cebu Smallholder Nursery

Operators Perspective

The familiarity with ITS was assessed among 50 smallholder nursery operators from
Mindanao (Bukidnon and Misamis Oriental) and Cebu (Tolentino et al. 2001).
Indigenous tree species (ITS) appeared to be a vague concept or classification of spe-
cies to most nursery operators. The term “indigenous or native” might be unfamiliar
being an English word. However, when some examples were cited, the respondents
readily enumerated what they thought were indigenous trees. It was noted that com-
monly and widely planted species like eucalyptus, Swietenia sp. and gmelina were
frequently mistaken as indigenous due to their abundance and prolonged period of
plantings. Ninety-one species were identified by the nursery operators. Familiarity was
simply gauged by the number of times an ITS was mentioned. Molave ( Vitex parvi-
flora ) was the most popular among the respondents followed by Lauan (which is the
generic name for dipterocarps by local people) followed by narra ( Pterocarpus indi-
cus ) and bagalunga ( Melia dubia ) and a species locally known as katii and ulayan
(Philippine oak, possibly Lithocarpus spp.). This result including that of the UNDP
project to be described later clearly show that ITS are not foreign or unknown to many
local upland communities. Thus, promotion in the various planting activities using ITS
will be facilitated due to the current awareness or knowledge of the local people.
Lumber and furniture species top the list of uses identified for ITS, again con-
firming the preference of local people for wood construction and highly marketable
species. Most respondents cited several uses of the species. The findings indicate that
ITS have tremendous potentials recognized by the communities. They have also
expressed willingness to plant the ITS in their agroforestry farms. The same study
found out that upland farmers have interests and are willing to raise ITS in their
nurseries. However, the interest and willingness hinge on several factors with the
availability of good germplasm being the most important (51 percent). Obviously,
any planting program will require the supply of good germplasm. As earlier
described, this has been an important advantage that exotic species possess over the
ITS. Additionally, local people have difficulties in identifying ITS wildlings (13
percent) if this germplasm source will be used (Table 15.2). There were a few who
still prefer exotics or fruit trees due to slow growth of ITS (eight percent), better
markets for exotic trees (eight percent) and restrictive policies on harvesting and
transporting of ITS (five percent).