Why smallholders plant native timber trees away from the forest margin. Lessons from Leyte, the Philippines

As long as natural forests can be accessed as
local sources of timber, there is little incentive for
farmers to grow timber on their own land. Early
successes with national programs for farmer tree
planting in the Philippines were achieved with fast
growing trees – that brought disappointingly low
levels of income once harvested, as the quality
of wood was low. Meanwhile, some farmers took
the initiative to grow high-value, slower-growing
native timbers on their farms, planting trees
between their maize. What are the prospects for
this? Which types of farmers are doing it? Is it
profitable? What policy measures could support or
enhance such agroforestation of the landscape? A
recent study looked at several of these questions
at the island of Leyte in the Philippines. The
results have implications for other forest margin
locations.