Technologies Related to Participatory Forestry in Tropical and Subtropical Countries

Successful participatory forestry requires adoption of the best possible forest technologies. These include choice of species which farmers need for various end uses, good nursery practices, and postplanting tree management. This paper describes some of these technologies, including indigenous forest technologies, factors influencing the choice of species by farmers and foresters, some of the nursery practices for ensuring good planting stock, better postplanting tree management techniques, and technology for tree improvement. The paper also describes various patters of intercropping trees in farms, including rotational agrosilviculture; home gardens; trees over crops; alley farming; boundary planting; and silvopastoral systems such as fodderbank, forest grazing, live fences, and trees over pastures. The species and families trees commonly grown in Africa, Asia, and Latin America are listed, which indicates a need for research to concentrate on species for selected botanical families: Leguminosae, Meliaceae, Moraceae, and Myrtaceae. The paper outlines factors that determine farmers ' choice of technologies and describes how modern technologies can be more effectively disseminated. Poor interaction between farmers and local technicians and between local technicians and on-station researchers has created serious communication gaps that need to be bridged using social communication strategies such as social action learning, listening, and iterative extension to create dialogue and mutual understanding. Continuous feedback on and refinement of technologies are needed as new information becomes available. Farmer-oriented, demand-driven, and appropriate research and extension strategies mustbe adopted.