“These farmers may need urgent cash for school fees or medical bills, yet they have no access to capital reserves while waiting for their plantation to harvest", said Dede Rohadi, CIFOR scientist.

Teak has played a vital role in Javanese culture and economy for centuries. Originally a species from Burma, Javanese teak represents 35% of the world teak supply, with logs and sawn timber sales for 2001 amounting to more than 680,000 m3, valued at nearly $AUS115 million.

Furniture production is a major industry throughout Central Java, with more than 15,000 factories depending on teak to survive. Much of this raw timber comes from smallholder plantations in and around the Gunung Kidul district.

During the 70’s, drought, civil unrest and other factors had left this area largely degraded and unproductive, yet a range of government rehabilitation initiatives over the last 30 years has meant the region is now made up of 60% productive land, the majority of this comprising teak plantations. These plantations also deliver added value as they can be combined with planting crops, traditional medicinal plants or livestock food sources.

And yet most small scale teak farmers in the region are still living below the poverty line.

According to Dede Rohadi, from CIFOR’s Forests & Livelihoods program, the reason for this is that “smallholders tend to take prices that are often well below market rates because of their restricted access to information and market networks, and their low quality timber, which is due to limited knowledge of sivicultural and teak production methods.

“These farmers also may need urgent cash for school fees or medical bills,” added Rohardi, “yet they have no access to capital reserves while waiting for their plantation to harvest. Income from cash crops or other sources often fail to cover daily living costs, so cutting a tree is seen as the only option – regardless of its size or time of year.”

So, in 2007, CIFOR launched a four year research project designed to improve sivicultural techniques, establish micro-finance schemes and educate farmers on marketing strategies. The results will also support the local certification process and inform policy at a local, regional and national level. Seven villages throughout Gunung Kidul were selected as project sites.

The project is funded by Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), and CIFOR is working in collaboration with the Gunung Kidul district government (Working Group for Sustainable Forest Management), the Indonesian Forestry Research and Development Agency (FORDA), the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), the Farm Forestry Consortium (Pokja), Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Australian National University (ANU) and Winrock Foundation,

From 14-17 April, 2008, stakeholders met in Yogyakarta to discuss preliminary research activities and to ensure that these activities are synchronized with the work plan for teak farm forestry development throughout Gunung Kidul. The meeting was attended by project partners, as well as local farmers, NGOs and district government officials.