Restoration of Philippine Native Forest by Smallholder Tree Farmers - Smallholder Tree Growing for Rural Development and Environmental Services - page 315

One year seedlings range in height from 40 to 150 cm, while their diameters vary
from 9 to 66 mm. Two fires broke out in the area due to escaped fires from adjacent
cornfields and burned several seedlings. However, the ensuing rainy season revealed
that both Polycias nodosa and Pittosporum pentandrum have the ability to re-sprout
after the fire. This impressive growth performance and fire resistance of the ITS have
impressed even the farmers who are very much convinced of the superiority of
gmelina. The general criticism that ITS are slow growing and unable to colonize
marginal sites is now a highly debatable statement. These initial results clearly mani-
fest that useful information about ITS should be discovered by researches in order to
provide a basis for future wide-scale plantings. On the other hand, the absence of
packaged technologies for particular species will not necessarily hinder the planting
of previously unknown ITS. However, like many new and introduced tree species, the
processing, utilization and markets aspects are major concerns for these farmers.

15.3.4 Facilitating Community-Based Conservation and Planting

of Indigenous Trees in Misamis Oriental and Bukidnon

The UNDP Small Grants Programme for Operations to Promote Tropical Forest
(UNDP SGP PTF) funded a project entitled “Facilitating Community-based
Conservation and Planting of Indigenous Trees” in Misamis Oriental and Bukidnon.
The project was implemented by the Landcare Foundation of the Philippines with
the Landcare Associations in the two provinces. The participants were mainly com-
posed of indigenous people (Higa-onons and Tala-andigs). The Project reported
that for the four barangays (villages) where the project was implemented, the com-
munity members were able to list several dozen ITS in their area including their
uses, location of mother trees where seeds and wildlings were collected, specific
niches of mother trees in the landscape, and flowering and fruiting periods (UNDP
SGP PTF 2006). Community members were clearly familiar with the ITS in their
locality. The project illustrated the rich information lodged among local indigenous
people and the need to externally pump-prime similar projects that will stimulate
the use of indigenous knowledge systems in plantation development. The use of
seeds and wildlings as sources of germplasm demonstrated the ability of these people
to cope with the issue of limited planting materials.

15.4 Capacitating Smallholder Tree Farmers to Domesticate

Indigenous Tree Species

The potential of domesticating a variety of ITS by smallholder tree farmers in the
Philippines is undeniably tremendous. With the shift in forest management from purely
corporate-based to community-based forest management, as mandated by Executive
Order No. 263, restoration of native forests by smallholder tree farmers is a viable
alternative. There are 4.9 million hectares under CBFMA (Community-based Forest