1. Extension and Smallholder timber
Reflections
Christine Holding Anyonge - FAO

2. Global Forestry Context: Scale & Impact
Global Areas
Land Area
13,064 m ha
Non-Forest Area
9,007 m ha (69.1%)
Forest Area
3,870 m ha (29.6% )
Industrial Plantation
90 m ha (0.6 %)
Non-industrial Plantation
97 m ha (0.7%)
0.6%
0.7%
29.6%
69.1%
Source: FRA 2002
Presented at the recent International FSC meeting Bonn - Carle (Sept.2004)
Here is a pie chart of land use area – the blue area is non forest area, the red area is forest area, the thin slivers are industrial and non-industrial plantations respectively.
Forest area is by far the largest area of “forest” - however if one looks at where the majority of forest products comes from it is the plantation sector – The slide shows that, however that from this small sliver 35% of global industrial roundwood was produced in 2000, and this is estimated to rise to 40% by 2020.
In brief the argument runs that plantation forestry, if well managed can reduce the pressure on the forest area - hence preserving bio-diversity, maintaining carbon sinks etc.
Of the industrial plantations shown above, only 50% are corporate industrial,
i.e. less than 0.3percent is large scale monoculture.
It is recognized that plantations possibly require alternative and more diversified management strategies than in the past, if concerns on environmental and social sustainability are to be adequately addressed - I will not go into this in detail here – however the publication that FAO recently produced with CIFOR on “Towards equitable partnerships between Corporate and Smallholder Partners ” pulls together experiences on this issue and attempts to addresses these concerns.
In this presentation I wish to focus on independent small forest owners - the balance of industrial round wood production – in other words majority of the industrial plantations production actually comes from this group small scale forest owners –
Our question is : are this stakeholder group in the forest sector adequately considered in terms of technical, market information and other support or services they may require – are their concerns adequately represented, in forestry fora, national forest dialogues, national forest programmes and policy development?
It is to this question of the extension support needs of small forest owners that I would like to focus.
Industrial Plantation Production of
Global Industrial Roundwood, 35% in 2000; est. 40% by 2020
FAO Carle, 2004

3. Context : planted forest ownership
Public sector ( est 55%)
return to people and nation; econ, environment; generally long term
Private sector ( corporate est 20%)
return to board and shareholders; strong econ focus; tendency shorter term return
Private sector ( smallholder est 25%)
Return on investment to families
Balanced socio economic and environment, potential enhance livelihoods, “ quality of life”
Diversifies family portfolio- balance shorter and longer term benefits

4. Extension support to smallholders
Link smallholders to secure markets
Enhance market and technical information for all stakeholders
Facilitate smallholder associations & collective action fora
Train & support smallholder associations
Establish enabling frameworks at national, district & FMU levels to facilitate stakeholder negotiations
Enhance value added skills including linkages to forest industries & market intelligence systems
FAO/ICRAF Side event Smallholder Timber
United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF), Geneva. May 2004.
INTRO: There was an FAO/ICRAF side vent on smallholder timber at the UNFF Forum of Forest in Geneva, and these points were presented for consideration at that side event.
Items in this slide were taken from smallholders surveys of their support requirements - and experiences in running / facilitating small holder extension programmes.

5. Forest extension challenges: Small forest landowners
Address farm foresters lack of power/ lack of organization and representation
Address market and technical information flows at the middle level
Work towards policy and legal frameworks between institutions that enable multi-channel and diverse communication between stakeholders
Consideration of “ theatres of innovation” as an option for sustainable research and development initiatives
“Communication strategies for multiple partner involvement in forestry extension”. IUFRO/ CNR/ FAO Sept 2004
Read points first – and then conclude by saying that all these points:
require effective communication between the stakeholders involved.
These points tie in very well with the Neuchatel donors group pro poor extension focus, and their recent publication. ( have a copy)
(The focus is very much one of PRO POOR EXTENSION)
Pro poor extension : Key elements:
Creating and supporting opportunity by looking for where the poor can benefit from the market, as producers, labourers and consumers
Enhancing security and reducing vulnerability by designing strategies and priorities that avoid or reduce risk
Provide the enabling environment for the poor to engage with the other stakeholders as a significant stakeholders themselves
Institutional reform by redefining the roles of the State, private sector (corporate and smallholder), NGOs, research and educational institutes, funding agencies and other stakeholders