Teak's contribution to rural development in Indonesia

Teak is a valuable tropical timber species produced in i ndustrial plantations in more than 43 countries. National and international d emand for teak timber exceeds the sustainable yield from plantations. High demand creates opportunit ies for enterprising farmers. Teak is now grown in smallholder systems in many tropical countries as one component of integrated multispecies ’ agroforestry systems . Th e se systems enable farmers to diversify production reduce farm risk contribute to food se curity and generate much need ed income. Th is paper reports the contributions of smallholder teak s ystems to rural development in Indonesia where farmers have been producing teak for over 50 years. Indonesian farmers cultivate various mixed tree and annual crop systems with teak accounting for 56% of the tree component . A nnual cropping is an important aspect of th e se systems producing commodities for both household consumption and market sale. Besid es supplying food for household s smallholder teak systems provide 40% of household income from agricultur al and timber crops. Teak and other tree crops allow households to re - allocate labor to off - farm employment when those opportunities are lucrative. However farmers suffer from limited resources l abor and access to information which constrain the productivity of their teak systems. S pecific recommendations are provided regarding how smallholders can adopt improved silvicultural and marketing management. Roles for government support agencies and indus try are outlined that would provide benefits to all parties. Policy changes are identified that would motivate smallholders to improve the 1 Paper presented at the World Teak Conference 2013 Bangkok Thailand 24 – 27 March 2013 management of their teak systems. Conclusions and recommendations are applicable to smallholder teak systems across t he tropics

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