The Influence of Land and Tree Tenure on Participation in Smallholder and Community Forestry in the Philippines

1. The Influence of Land and Tree Tenure on Participation in Smallholder and Community Forestry in the Philippines John Herbohn, Nick Emtage, Steve Harrison, Nestor Gregorio and Dennis Peque

2. Nestor Gregorio Dennis Peque Steve Harrison Nick Emtage The Team

4. Deforestation in the Philippines • Rapid deforestation since 1950s • Forest cover down from 49% in 1950 to 18% (5.4 M ha) in 1997. • Only 1M ha of old growth forest remains (3.3% of original forest cover)

5. Squatter hut – central Mindinao

6. Hillside farming on Leyte

7. policies in 1980’s favoured industrial forestry (e.g. BFI, Alsons, PICOP)

8. Shift to community and farm forestry (small-scale forestry systems)

9. Mixed farm forestry plot at Matalom, Leyte. Tree species: Acacia mangium (brown boles) and Eucalytpus deglupta (green boles). Note also under-planting with bananas and pineapples

10. Current Land Tenure Arrangements • Lack of land tenure mapping and clear on ground boundary marking • 1975 – all areas with slope >18o classified as publicly owned forest land (60% of 30 M ha in Philippines) • Historically most Gov. agencies lacked resources to police land under their control • Effectively open access to squatters • Approx 50% of ‘forest land’ is actually cleared farm land

11. Current Land Tenure Arrangements • Smallholders can gain access to land by paying yearly ‘land tax’ which gives them right to harvest annual crops in forest lands • All trees in forest lands remain under State ownership – even if planted by smallholder – and harvest is illegal • Public forest lands may become ‘alienable and disposable’ and available for titling

12. Current Land Tenure Arrangements • Many eligible landholders don’t seek title • Poorly educated • Find laws and procedures confusing • Boundaries must be surveyed by gov. officials at the expense of applicant – low cash income and remote locations make this survey prohibitive • Powerful elite classes have history of taking control of public land and extracting rent from poor farmers who do not know about land tenure system

13. Current Land Tenure Arrangements • Agrarian reform • Land holdings of greater than 14 ha can be compulsorily acquired by DAR and redistributed to tenants on land • Between 1988 and 1999 4.2 M ha redistributed which benefited some 2 million households • Many large landholders have however exploted loopholes • Other gov. programs giving increased land tenure security • CBFM i.e. CBFMA; Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claims • ISF program i.e. certificate of stewardship, certificate of forest stewardship

14. Current Tree Tenure Arrangements • Logging ban in place to protect remaining native forests • Registering of trees • Req’d before trees can be harvested • Lengthy, time-consuming and costly process with ‘lagay’ payments often req’d • Transportation permits • Required to transport logs • Checkpoints established (known as ‘cashpoints’) • Regulations in place to control illegal logging • Provides entry point for rent seeking officials • As a consequence, smallholders often evade regulations by not registering trees • Negatively impacting on tree planting as landholders fear losing their investment

15. INSIGHTS FROM ACIAR SMALLHOLDER FORESTRY RESEARCH

16. Project activities - nursery production technologies and field trials of key species - survey of smallholder households - effectiveness of People’s Organisations - carbon sequestration potential of smallholder forestry - microfinancing of tree farms - timber supply and demand - financial returns from forestry - survey of nursery operators Project planning meeting - 2001

17. Project activities - nursery production technologies and field trials of key species - survey of smallholder households - effectiveness of People’s Organisations - carbon sequestration potential of smallholder forestry - microfinancing of tree farms - timber supply and demand - financial returns from forestry - survey of nursery operators Project planning meeting at Leyte State University - 2001

18. Some of the enumerators involved in the household survey Household Survey • Team of 14 people coordinated by Nick • 200 households in 4 communities, 1500 variables • Initial FGDs, survey, FGDs to validate findings • Univariate and multivariate clustering analysis to identify landholder groups

19. Household Survey • Initial FGDs identified problems with • Lack of land for planting • Instability of policies • Lack of markets

20. Household Survey – key results • Farmers who own land are much more likely to • have planted trees and to have intentions to plant trees in future (60% vs 40%) • Intend to plant a greater number of trees (350 vs 110) • More likely to be interested in commercial tree farming • Farmers with formal lease contracts intend to plant more trees tha those without (88.5% vs 15%) • Main constraints • Lack of land (3.5/5) • Finances to pay for tree growing (3.4/5) • Concern about security of land tenure (3.0/5) – had the greatest SD of all responses

21. Household Survey – key results 5 Cluster Groups identified • Concern about security of tenure and lack of land for planting of greatest concern for 2 of 5 groups • Tree registration • Only 2% had registered trees • Only 16% knew how to register trees • Tree registration is often left to just before harvest with cost being prohibitive for small harvest lots • lagay system • payment of travel allowances • DENR staff slow and unreliable • Land title or tax declarations are req’d hence land tenure also has implications for tree registration which in turn affects willingness to plant trees

22. Household Survey – key results • Relationship between wealth, land ownership and interest in tree planting • One of the two groups with lowest interest in commercial tree farming was the poorest group which also had the lowest land ownership rates and lowest income • Second group with low interest was wealthiest in terms of income but did not have highest rate of land owenership • Most enthusiastic group was second poorest (who also owned a high proportion of land they manage)

23. Household Survey • Relationship between wealth, land ownership and interest in tree planting • Poverty in Philippines is largely a rural phenomenon with 50% of farmers below poverty line and those above tend to be receiving remittances or have off-farm income • Largest landholders are the richest – however do not live in the communities and were not surveyed • Decision to plant trees appears not only to be related to wealth and land ownership but also to value system of household i.e. confidence in farming as way of improving their livelihood

24. Household Survey – key results • Policy Workshop • Held to confirm findings, assist in delivery of results to stakeholders and to develop policy recommendations for consideration by government agencies • Tenure security discussed • LGU and community reps indicated that they were almost totally ignorant of regulations relating to land tenure and tree registration • Both groups called for more info to be made available anf for DENR officials to undertake a IEC (information, education and communication) program • Calls for DENR personnel to visit communities regularly or liaison officers to be appointed to LGUs • Also pointed out that while crops can be grown without any regulations, trees are subject to many regulations and less attractive to grow

25. Household Survey – key results • Policy Workshop • Community reps also were concerned about smallholders being prosecuted or evicted by landowners disapproving of them growing trees • LGU and comm. reps also • called for tree registration responsibility to be transferred to LGUs - partly to decrease cost and also to ensure applicants are owners • Concerned about lack of stability of land and tree management policies • Lack of information about DENR policies was greatest concern of workshop participants

26. Micro-financing Survey • The Survey: • investigate why landholders not using microfinancing to fund establishment of trees • 90 respondents all of whom had planted trees along with 10 bankers • Providers of microfinance • Mostly req’d real estate as collateral • Tenure thus important to secure loans and improving land tenure would improve access to finance • Bankers also wanted increased assurances from gov that landholders would be able to harvest trees and that a market will exist

27. Micro-financing Survey • Tree farmers’ opinions • Lack of finance identified as most important constraint on sustaining their plantations • Microfinance not highly regarded because of high interest burden • Also unwilling to borrow because of lack of markets for timber • Many criticised gov. for doing nothing to solve this problem • Some farmers also indicated gov officials unhelpful in processing required papers for tree harvest and that lagay system still exists

28. Survey of Nursery Operators • relative seedling production costs and sale prices of planting stocks; constraints hampering the nursery operation and help needed from various agencies • nursery management skills and financial capacity of nursery operators; flow and distribution of germplasm; basis of selecting species to produce; knowledge of site-species matching; and type, species and quality of planting stocks raised • 74 operators interviewed from 22 of 41 municipalities • 37 private, 22 community, 13 government and 2 academic

29. Survey of Nursery Operators Strong association between private nursery ownership and land ownership • Most private nursery oweners own some land (78%) • Almost all of nursery operators (94%) raising seedlings for private use own land compared with operators who raise seedlings for sale (61%) • Land ownership plays important role in sustainability of nurseries raising seedlings for sale • Operators willing to continue production despite low sales because they can plant excess seedlings on their land • Will continue to operate as log as there is space to plant

30. Survey of Nursery Operators • Almost all nurseries produced low quality seedlings and no knowledge of site-species matching • Leads to poor performance of seedlings once planted out • Training operators would dramatically improve field quality and performance of planting stock

31. Survey of Nursery Operators • Nursery operators who own land are also much more likely to have attended training • hence land tenure may have important implications for nursery continuity and training • i.e. operators who own land are more likely to attend training, and the benefits of training are likely to persist because these nursery operators are more likely to continue operating in times of low sales

32. Concluding Comments • Land and tree tenure security is major constraint to tree planting for many smallholders and communities • Many farmers could obtain secure tenure by making appropriate application but are prevented in doing so by lack of education and the costs of obtaining land title • Potential to develop extension materials (‘how to’ guides) • Establish NGOs or COs to help farmers complete applications • Provide financial assistance to meet costs

33. Concluding Comments • Lack of understanding by LGUs and communities of DENR approval procedures for timber harvesting and transport • Mechanisms to improve communication • Extension materials or manuals to outline procedures • Some DENR policies are inadvertently restricting property rights and scope exists for alternative policies

34. Concluding Comments • As part of new four year project focused on improving the livelihoods of farmers we will develop and test pilot programs for: • improving supply of high-quality planting material through accredited nurseries • improving local land tenure arrangements which provide a favourable environment for adoption of the improved silviculture practices • overcoming tree registration and transport approval problems • improving market access and efficiency