| [Back to front page] | Improving Forest
Productivity Increasing amounts of wood are now being produced in smallholder plantations, especially in areas where population density is high. The sites available for these plantations are frequently degraded and of low fertility and there is a question about whether they can sustain a high level of productivity without large inputs of fertiliser and weedicides. It may not be feasible for smallholders to provide these inputs. During the year, CIFOR continued its work to identify and analyse the problems which constrain sustainable tree planting, and to develop technological and other options to maximise the sustainability of smallholder plantations on degraded tropical sites. The project on ‘Plantation Forestry on Degraded or Low-potential Sites’ seeks to develop site management and policy options which improve the choices and chance of success for smallholder involvement in plantation forestry, and technologies which improve production and sustainability of fast-growing plantations on low-potential sites. Improvement of soil and water management in tropical tree plantations, dipterocarp silviculture and research needs, and fungal pathogens in tropical acacias have been addressed in this work. In 1997, CIFOR conducted research on using computer modelling to test the impacts of technologies and policies in Southeast Asian uplands; on applying new techniques to degraded lands in mountainous areas of China; on generating community income and restoring degraded lands in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, and through production of Vitex pubescens for barbecue charcoal.
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