Restoration of Philippine Native Forest by Smallholder Tree Farmers - Smallholder Tree Growing for Rural Development and Environmental Services - page 325

emerging as manifested in the planting initiatives described in the UP Land Grants,
Quirino, Mindanao and other parts of the country. There are fast growing and stress-
tolerant ITS that have comparable performance in marginal sites like the exotic trees.
Limited germplasm, particularly seeds, is complemented by the collection of wild-
lings from adjacent natural forests, a coping mechanism by resource-limited farm-
ers. Propagation and tree management of these ITS are not very complicated and
difficult despite the absence of intensive researches like their counterpart exotics. In
some sites, indigenous knowledge has played a major role in addressing the lack of
formal research studies needed as basis for technological practices.
The current national thrust on community-based forest management highlights
the potential contribution of smallholder tree farmers in forest restoration. Familiarity
with the ITS among upland dwellers is high which can facilitate widespread domes-
tication. However, there are important strategies that needs to be put in place to
facilitate the domestication of ITS. These are: (a) the need to prioritize the ITS by
region to limit the list to the potentially useful and marketable species; (b) increase
the availability of and improve access to good quality germplasm; this involves the
use of the traditional seeds complemented by vegetatively-propagated stocks
(macro and micro) as well as wildlings; (c) generation of farmer-friendly technolo-
gies that spans from production to processing; indigenous knowledge is useful
when available; the strategy also includes the appropriate dissemination and adop-
tion of these technologies to the end users; (d) strengthening the use of ITS in bio-
diversity conservation programs; (e) improving access to market information by
tree farmers and establishing close links to the wood market and; (e) policy review
and reforms coupled by adequate incentives to promote plantation development.
There are existing policies and programs that clearly support the planting of
ITS in the various forest restoration programs of the country. However, there are
certainly big hurdles that need to be surpassed but with a resolute stand to bring
back the Philippine native forests, foresters, smallholder tree farmers and private
land owners can unite to restore the lush tropical forests. A last note, this paper
does not advocate a complete shift from exotics to purely indigenous trees but
offers a pragmatic approach to species selection which aims to provide the best
options for the benefit of the people and the society who depend on the Philippine
forests. Similar to exotic species, indigenous tree species offer immense poten-
tials that remain to be tapped by many tree growers both for production and envi-
ronmental services.
References
Acosta RT (2004) Impact of incentives on the development of forest plantation resources in the
Philippines. In: Enters T and Durst PB (eds) What does it take? The role of incentives in forest
plantation development in Asia and the Pacific. Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, pp197-210
Agpaoa A, Endangan D, Festin S, Gumayagay J, Hoenninger TH, Seeber G, Unkel K and Weidelt
HJ (1976) Manual of reforestation and erosion control for the Philippines. BFD-DENR, pp569