12 minute read
Sustainable Forest Management and Farm Forestry
Forestry has always been an intrinsic part of Finnish farms providing fuel, income, and being a place to relax, hunt, and to collect berries and mushrooms. Thus, from the beginning FFD has supported smallholder forestry through several projects. The content and activities of the individual projects have varied depending on the national legislation and the local context. In some countries, forestry is very regulated, and the emphasis was given to non-timber forest products (NTFP). For example, in Tanzania and Vietnam, where the national legal framework allows smallholder forestry aiming at wood chip or timber production, there has been more focus on sustainable forest management and certification procedures. Tree nurseries seem often to provide fast income and financial sustainability for FOs and provide job opportunities for women and youth. Charcoal production which is contested by many as a non-sustainable production, can also be done sustainably when new trees are planted to replace the ones that were felled. Planted forests for charcoal production can protect natural forests which are important to conserve.
FFD has been supporting forest-related activities in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, Tanzania, and Vietnam. Our partners are sometimes working with smallholder forestry but normally also have activities on non-timber forest products such as honey, agroforestry.
“In FFD’s projects, it is not about helping the southern partners, but about cooperation, learning together and supporting their independent work.
It is baffling how similar the problems are in organizational development projects and in promoting the issues of forest owners both in Tanzania and here. Most of the time, problems are solved by simple means and collaboration between people. It has been great to be able to promote the association’s activities and operating methods with the people of Tanzania Tree Growers’ Associations’ Union (TTGAU). As a reward, I feel happy and satisfied, and I now appreciate my own operating environment here at home even more. I have also learned that simple solutions often apply here as well.” – Heli Mutkala, MTK twinning partner of Tanzania Tree Growers’ Associations’ Union, Tanzania.
In Kenya, the support to FF-SPAK aims at increasing profitability and resilience of farm forestry livelihoods. The farmers of Lima Linda cooperative, a member of FF-SPAK, explained how the collaboration has boosted their avocado production. They purchase now improved avocado seedlings from two certified model nurseries and manage them according to technical advice, which improves both the quantity and quality of avocadoes.
Zenbaba Union in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia received FFD support 2013-20. 32 cooperatives which produced both honey and acacia poles managed to increase their production, thanks to forest management advice, good seedlings, and joint marketing. The best achievement for Zenbaba Union was to get an approval by the Cooperative Promotion Agency to combine honey, charcoal, and pole production into the same cooperatives. This strengthened the financial stability of cooperatives considerably since one seasonal product doesn’t generate enough income to maintain the cooperative management alone.
“If a twin has a passion for sharing his or her experience, the locals can feel it. It encourages and challenges them to implement the activities. The twin acts as a supervisor, coach, mentor, and friend to their peers. It is not always easy to accommodate all these roles, but it is always rewarding.” Kalle Ikonen – FMA Varsinais-Suomi, twinning partner of Zenbaba Union, Ethiopia.
In Nepal, FFD has been supporting first the nine community forest user groups in Dang province and later channeling the support through ASEC, the cooperative which they established. The collaboration in the beginning focused on the capacity of the forest users, poor and disadvantage groups of the community. Now the support is focused on establishing businesses, preparing, and implementing a local level climate adaptation plan. The latest effort has been invested in the establishment of a sal leaf plate factory. This shows well how the basic skills achieved have created a foundation for more ambitious and market-oriented activities.
“Through the project the women forest users in Tulsipur, Dang got the opportunity to enhance their capacity and knowledge, gain experiences, and try their ideas. It is clearly visible in the community, and a large number of women of the project area are now in different leading positions: elected in local government’s body, in different local organizations, in forest user group’s working committee’s body, and many more. It is very clear that the project enhances the capacity of women as well as the forest user groups. As a result they have more income and their social status has improved”, says Kadel Biddya Raj, Project Coordinator in ASEC, Nepal.
In Vietnam, different cooperative alliances (CA) at the provincial level have received support since 2013 to strengthen forestry related activities. The forestry sector in Vietnam is as large as in Finland measured by GDP and offers interesting opportunities for smallholders. Traditionally, the cooperatives have focused on rice production and other agricultural products but not on forestry. In 2017, there were only 351 cooperatives with forestry activities, but at the end of 2022 there were more than 500. The FFD collaboration aimed at strengthening competence and skills of cooperatives to support forest related activities: through improved seedlings, nursery and forest management practices and finally, through forest certification. We also tested if the CAs could take a stronger role to sequestrate carbon through prolonged rotation period of woodlots. Linkages to academic research – the Hue University for Agriculture and Forestry, the Vietnam Academy of Forest Science and the Viikki Tropical Resources Institute – and the collaboration with Forest and Farm Facility have allowed us to be in the frontline of actors promoting integration of smallholders in forest value chain also at the national level.
‘‘Prior to the project, our family cultivated rice and a variety of flowers. We also grew Acacia trees and kept poultry beneath the forest canopy. Thanks to FFD, our family has started to keep bees, which gives us an additional income. We firmly believe that the integration of trees, livestock, and farming increase efficiency of our farm. The combination of poultry and bees under the Acacia trees has proven to be a symbiotic arrangement. The poultry benefits from termite insects as a food source and the Acacia flowers provide pollen for honey production. Looking ahead, we have plans to expand our beekeeping operations to further support our livelihoods and to help replicate this model for the benefit of others in our community”. Ms. Tran Thi Lan Sinh, farmer, Binh Yen village,
In Finland, FFD has been a part and parcel of process generating educational knowledge on global forestry through a national Forest Quiz (Metsävisa, Skogsnöten) since 2018. This quiz is designed for secondary school pupils who are interested in testing their knowledge of forests and forestry. In 2021, on Quiz’s 40th anniversary, FFD prepared a part of the quiz focusing on tropical forestry that the 20.000 participants competed in. The examples and questions derived from the FFD partner organization and our experiences with them. From 2023, FFD and the Finnish Forest Association produce educational material to demonstrate the different ways through which forests contribute to human beings and our welfare in different parts of the world.
“In cooperation with FFD, the theme of global education is addressed, where forests and their impact on people’s lives in different parts of the world have been at the center. In addition to forest knowledge, FFD has highlighted the global importance of the work of Finnish forestry experts. In the Forest Quiz, young Finnish people get to feel part of a wider global community and learn how small actions can have big effects on the well-being of forests and people” says Sirpa Kärkkäinen, The Finnish Forest Association.
UWAMIMA – Tree Growers Association and their Timber Yard
UWAMIMA in Matembwe, was one of the first partners of FFD which inherited the collaboration from MTK in 2013. In the beginning, the partnership was focused on forest management practices, harvesting practices, and management of tree nurseries. When the quantity of production was increasing, UWAMIMA suggested a construction of a timber yard to dry sawn planks centrally and market them jointly. The idea included also an office where the buyers could pay levies and taxes for the local government.
The timber yard was operationalized in 2018. In the beginning, there were serious challenges to continue with this initiative due to an extraordinary drying levy by the regional government and some competing initiatives. Nevertheless, UWAMINA managed to overcome these threats.
Now, the yard attracts people from inside and outside Njombe to do forest business. Most important is that women have started in timber business, which previously was not common in the area. Availability of timber in the yard has made it easy for women to engage in the timber value chain - in the past they would go around in the villages searching for timber.
“Tree growers are now adding value to their trees and sell timber instead of standing trees, thus increasing their share of the value chain. The timber yard has increased the efficiency of the district council to collect levy as it now collects them in the office at the yard which saves time. The timber yard has improved the capacity of UWAMIMA to provide services to members and communities in general. This also strengthens TTGAU as a union”, says Kastory Timbula, CED, Tanzania Tree Growers’ Associations’ Union, Tanzania.
Tanzania Tree Growers Associations Union (TTGAU) was founded in 2017 by the Finnish bilateral project PFP. The vision was to establish a national organization for smallholder forestry based on the Finnish MTK model to represent and serve farmers who want to invest in tree growing. Southern Highland area is well suited to grow Eucalyptus, Pine and Acacia. Today, FFD partners with TTGAU to facilitate farm and forest farmers to undertake research on the impacts of climate change on means of livelihood through the EU-funded action research (FO-led-RI) with NADO.
In Latin America, FFD at first supported forest management in Mexico, and then continued with bee-keeping and other agricultural production in Northern Nicaragua. Most recently, focus was on climate resilient coffee production in Western Honduras in partnership with Trias, our Belgian sister organization.
“‘Fumar’ was the first word I learned on the Nicaraguan bee-farm. The shout which was slightly alarming and partly dictating made the colleague with a smoke pot fume more smoke to the beehive. I was about to start a queen-raising course in Madriz, located in the northern Nicaragua near the Honduran border. Even though we did not touch the hives, the bees attacked us. These bees are Africanized, and they are also called killer bees. You need to use so much smoke that it feels like being in the middle of a forest fire. But this is exactly the purpose. It makes the bees leave their hive and look for honey. It calms them down and makes them become docile. After an aggressive start the training continued as planned and it seemed that the reputation of killer bees was slightly dramatized.” - Ari Seppälä, The Union of Beekeepers, twinning partner of COMJERUMA, Nicaragua.
“One of the results from FFD support, is the extension of bee-keeping training to other municipalities beside Somoto, where it started with the project. For example, to the municipality of Nueva Segovia. Today, COMJEMURA is a beekeeping icon at local and national levels; thus, they are giving technical assistance to other cooperatives. This is an extra service and income for the cooperative”, says Oswaldo López Nuñez, evaluator of the FFD Nicaragua project.
