Balancing Germplasm in Smallholder Timber Production for Sustainable Results

1. Smallholder timber production: cutting the right balance between germplasm, silvicultural, social, economic and environmental factors Tony Simons World Agroforestry Centre November 2004

2. Smallholder timber production • Timber supply problems • Options for tree growing • Timber trees in agroforestry systems • Timber species trials • Points for intervention • Concluding remarks

3. 1. Timber supply problems • High rates of deforestation in many countries • Problems sourcing sustainably produced wood • Margins are becoming lower for retailers • Plantations do exist (much immature, many poorly managed) • Several public-led reforestation schemes have failed • - target mentality (seedlings produced not trees harvested) • - inadequate species-site matching • - confusion of conservation, protection and production forestry • - not involved local communities sufficiently • Overly restrictive permits and regulation

4. Small-holder timber • Opportunities • low labour requirement • green labelling • collective marketing • national PRSPs • lower risk of fire • Problems • low farmgate prices • poor valuation skills of farmers • poor management skills (“plant and forget” mentality) • low availability of planting stock • inadequate species choice • lack of linkages between sawmillers and farmers

5. Timber brands African mahogany - Khaya spp. Iroko - Milicia excelsa Sapele - Entandrophragma cylindricum Utile - Entandrophragma utile Wawa - Triplochiton scleroxylon African South American SE Asian Plantation – tropics Temperate Brazil mahogany - Swietenia macrophylla Curapixa - Adenanthera macrocarpa Jatoba - Hymanea coubaril Keruing - Dipterocarpus spp. Meranti - Shorea spp. Seraya - Shorea spp. (Sabah) Teak - Tectona grandis (Myanmar) Acacia - Acacia auriculiformis, A. mangium Cypress - Cupressus spp. Eucalypt - Eucalyptus spp. Falcata - Paraserianthes falcataria Gmelina - Gmelina arborea Pine - Pinus spp. Silky oak - Grevillea robusta American oak - Quercus rubra, Q. alba Cherry - Prunus spp. European oak - Quercus robur, Q. petraea European beech - Fagus spp. Walnut - Juglans spp.

6. Value of tropical timber Teak and mahogany can fetch up to US$4000 per m3 as dressed 1” x 8” x 8’ boards Wholesale: Softwood $30 - $150 per m3 Hardwood $100 - $500 per m3 (wood as carbon $1 - $5 per m3)

7. 2. Options for tree growing Natural Forest Plantations On farms

8. Trees in the landscape (tropics)

9. Under-exploited opportunity Forests and timber SOURCE TYPE PURPOSE concessionaires public lands FD production forestry CBFM watershed protection Natural Forest conservation company private lands community individual private Forest Plantations watershed protection government production forestry outgrowers On Farms collectives independents logs Imports sawnwood ply, veneer

10. Independent growers Out-grower schemes

11. N Tea Sweet potato path Maize 50m 100m Grevillea Cupressus Commiphora Eucalyptus Croton Bridelia Macadamia Persea Eriobotorya robusta spp without & with Yam saligna megalocarpus tetraphylla micran tha Americana japonica 3. Timber trees in agroforestry systems

12. Farmer timber tree survey Farmer preferences of traits for improvement, were: faster growth (28%), larger diameter (22%), straighter stem (17%) (Survey 120 households; Betser unpubl.)

13. 125 125 100 100 75 75 Number of species 50 50 25 25 0 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Number of farms Cameroon fruit Firewood Uganda firewood medicine construction soil fertility fodder Medicine Timber Fruit Soil fert. Fodder Western Kenya Meru, Kenya

14. Imagine there are 155 trees of 16 species in a farmer’s field of 1.6 hectares. We can do one of 4 things …..

15. Woody Interventions • A. Replacement • harvest Grevillea, replant with • Grevillea (improved or not) • B. Substitution • harvest Grevillea, replant with Vitex • C. Expansion • increase number of trees from 155, • and increase number of species from • 16 of both planted and nat. reg. trees • Management • better manage existing and new trees • (spacing, thinning, pruning, harvesting)

16. Replacement and Substitution Demand Rotation total no. % per year SPECIESAGEtrees/farmplantedper farm A 12 5 35 0.14 B 8 45 88 4.95 C 33 2 100 0.06 D 3 108 100 36.0 E 19 7 92 0.33 F 80** 12 85 0.13 G 25 17 91 0.62 H 9 31 64 2.20 ** - coppicing species (e.g. Eucalyptus)

17. 4. Types of trials • Species trials • Species/provenance trials • Provenance tests • Provenance/family trials • Family (progeny) tests • Clonal trials • Management trials

18. A. Species trials • Four kinds - Elimination (> 10 species, arboreta) • - Comparative (2-10 species) • - Proving trials (1-2 species) • - Modelling (e.g. WaNuLCaS) • What is the species required for? Timber only? • How many species are available? • What is likely to grow well? (species-site matching) • Exotic/indigenous? • Does the seedlot represent the species? (# prov.) • Careful if species have contrasting growth

19. A. Species trials (cont.) • Appropriate plot designs: (usually with border trees/rows) • - blocks (square, rectangular) • - lines • Plant at final spacing or thin? (50% diagonally) • What is the control? • Beware of confounding (species x management) • Problems arise if survival is moderate to low • Need sufficient number of trees (>50 trees) • Although often suggested, few species mixtures • Encourage correct botanic nomenclature • Biosafety considerations (weediness, quarantine)

20. Square plots (measured trees/total) 3 x 3 (1/9) 4 x 4 (4/16) 5 x 5 (9/25) 6 x 6 (16/36) 7 x 7 (25/49) 8 x 8 (36/64)

21. Timber volume at 8 years, Embu, Kenya

22. 36.8 40.1 Species A Species B Fruit yield (kg)

23. 36.8 40.1 Species A Species B Timber volume (m3) at 48 months

24. B. Species/provenance trials • Several provenances tested per species • Objective: (a) to identify best species • (b) to identify best provenance (s,xs) • Not necessary to have equal numbers of provenances per species, but if unbalanced be cautious with species comparisons • Design and analysis is more complex

25. C. Provenance tests • expect 2-5 fold differences between provenances • ensure seedlot has broad genetic base • (>30 parent trees) • depending on objectives and species, then • need 100-400 trees • is the material well documented? • can you get more seed if it is needed? • do you plan to convert the trial to a seed stand? • where most G x E tests are done (interpret/use?) • to date few done on farm, more could be

26. D. Provenance/family trials • Several families tested per provenance • Objective: (a) to identify best provenances • (b) to identify best families (p,xp) • (c) to calculate genetic parameters • Not necessary to have equal numbers of families per provenance, but if unbalanced be cautious with provenance comparisons • Require >30 families per provenance • Design and analysis is most complex

27. E. Family (progeny) tests • Used for calculating genetic parameters (s.e.) • - these are age, site, population, trait specific • Used to identify best families (backward seln - cso) • Used to identify next parents (forward seln) • Used for phenology studies, breeding system • Can be full-sib (we know mother and father) or half-sib (we know only mother) • Require >30 families, many more for family seln • Generally require >20 trees per family

28. F. Clonal trials • To observe clonal differences for selection • To determine clonal repeatability • To determine any “c” effects • Can be used for clonal seed orchards, if rogue • Can be used to set up mother blocks, if rogue • Good for mating system experiments

29. G. Management trials • careful to ensure relevance to on-farm conditions • can investigate individual factors and interactions: • - spacing • - thinning • - watering • - pruning • - fertilising • - shading • - microsymbionts • - topworking, grafting, budding • - nursery carry-over experiments

30. Genetic gains from different improvement strategies 200% Increasing value Intensive breeding with shortened flowering cycle and clonal propagation 150% SSO - 3 SSO - 2 “Conventional” breeding with open-pollinated seed production areas SSO - 1 Field trials ofbest natural provenances 100% 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 Unmanaged genetic resources on farms Time (years) 0%

31. Acacia mangium seed source trial: Panampally, Tamil Nadu, India

32. Acacia auriculiformis seed source trial: Kuiburi, Thailand Selected progenies from first generation seed orchard Unselected Thai landrace

33. Farmers must plant up to five land-race trees to get the production of one “seed orchard” tree • Unmanaged build-up of inbreeding can destroy any genetic gain from provenance selection Indian land race of A. auriculiformis

34. 5. Points for intervention • Tree establishment • Tree management • Tree harvesting • Timber marketing • Timber regulation

35. Points for intervention • Species choice • Germplasm • Tree improvement • Nursery origin • Propagule type • Planting density • Niche on farm • Individual, association • Land/tree tenure • Tree establishment • Tree management • Tree harvesting • Timber marketing • Timber regulation

36. Demand and Supply of Tree Seed Location of seed trees Wild stands Plantations Farms Station trials Central Seed orchards Demand Supply Supplier/ Collector Nurseries NGOs Farmers & Assoc. Seed Dealers NTSCs NARIs Donor Projects Users of seed Seed Producers Farmers Nursery Operators Plantations Research Trials/SSO Conservation

37. Sources and types of tree propagule for farmers  - occasionally  - regularly  - most usually

39. Australian experience • Get your species right • Get your founder material • right Pinus tecunumanii (unimproved) was better performing than 4th generation selected Pinus caribaea

40. Grevillea robusta an Australian species introduced to Africa 100+ years ago Land-race trees in Kenyan farming landscape • ICRAF / KEFRIgenetic resource stand of 91 Australian natural-provenance families at Malava, Kenya • Contains more genetic variability and potential for genetic improvement than all the millions of land-race trees in Africa • This species is: • Self-incompatible • Bird pollinated: • no birds – no seed!

41. Grevillea robusta:Antoine Kalinganire’s PhD studies Progenies from controlled pollinations among unselected natural provenance trees in genetic resource stand at Malava second-generation progenytrial at Malava, Western Kenya Age 2.5 years Progenies of selected Kenyan land race trees

42. Grevillea robusta progenytrial in Western Kenya outcrosses sib-crosses land race control-pollinated sib crosses Open-pollinated progeny of highlyselectedKenyan landraceplus trees Control-pollinated progeny of unselected natural provenance parents crossed at Malava

43. Tree volume at 15 years Seln intensity 1 in 10,000 i = 3.96 P0 1.0 m3 ΔG = i x δp x h2 ΔG = 3.96 x 0.18 x 0.27 ΔG = 19.2% P1 1.192 m3

44. Tree nurseries

46. Points for intervention • Tree establishment • Tree management • Tree harvesting • Timber marketing • Timber regulation • - Pruning • Thinning • Weeding • Fertilisation • Irrigation • Pest/disease • Intercropping

49. Farmers imagine the crown size and how many trees may fit along a boundary

50. And typically plant boundary/contour trees at final spacing