Preface
Smallholders in Indonesia have long been actively
planting trees on private or community land. Various
actors have encouraged this activity with the aim of
improving local livelihood security, environmental
sustainability and industrial wood supply. Such treeplanting
efforts are generally successful, but they
are often undertaken without technical assistance.
Farmers often lack the necessary technical capacity
and knowledge regarding proper management. The
most common management activity is harvesting
products, with other management practices less
frequently implemented. As a result, the quality
and quantity of products may not be fulfilling their
potential. The productivity of smallholder plantations
can be improved by enhancing smallholders'
management knowledge and skills including species
selection (site matching), silvicultural management to
produce high-quality products, and pest and disease
management. There is thus a need for manuals on
ecology and silvicultural management of the selected
tree species planted by smallholders in Indonesia.
This manual, 'Acacia mangium Willd.: ecology,
silviculture and productivity, is one of a series of five
manuals produced as part of the research project
`Strengthening rural institutions to support livelihood
security for smallholders involved in industrial treeplanting
programmes in Vietnam and Indonesia'
coordinated by CIFOR. This project was funded
by Germany's Advisory Service on Agriculture
Research for Development (BMZ/BEAF), through
the Gesellschaft fin Internationale Zusammenarbeit
(GIZ) for a 3-year period (2008-2010).
This manual gathers as much information as possible on
Acacia mangium Willd. from available resources, with a
focus on Indonesian sites. However, in terms of growth
and yield (productivity), the availability of data for
this species, particularly from smallholder plantations,
is generally limited. Efforts have been made to collect
inventory data from research sites under communitycompany
partnerships in South Kalimantan and Riau
provinces. In addition, information from large-scale
plantations that has been published in several reports
is used.
The manual has been translated into Indonesian and
modified slightly to meet smallholders' needs. The
authors believe this manual will benefit smallholders
and organisations involved in implementing treeplanting
programmes.
Haruni Krisnawati, Maarit Kallio and
Markku Kanninen