Honey, nuts, teak and indigo

Across Indonesia, smallholder farmers harvest and sell forest products like candlenuts, honey and indigo, which, along with timber species such as teak, help to sustain both their livelihoods and forests.

But although traditional harvesting practices have stood by them for generations, these smallholders stand to gain much more from processing and marketing their goods more broadly, rather than simply selling them locally.

A joint effort between CIFOR and the World Agroforestry (ICRAF) aims to develop the production and marketing of both timber and non-timber forest products that can improve smallholder livelihoods while promoting sustainable forest management. The Kanoppi project has worked with local partners to identify potential policy frameworks and institutional arrangements that can foster landscape-scale forest management for the benefit of smallholders.

Using a Participatory Action Research approach that involves smallholders and district- and provincial-level decision-makers in active discussions, the project aims to identify policies that may be limiting smallholders’ ability to access markets and fully engage in lucrative value chains. Kanoppi’s policy team facilitated the development of a district-level policy on integrated non-timber forest products (NTFPs) that was adopted at the provincial level in East Nusa Tenggara, and which will ensure research recommendations are included in government planning and budgets to support the development of priority NTFPs.

“This bottom-up approach has been critical to gaining local buy-in and building support across levels,” said Ani Adiwinata Nawir, a scientist at CIFOR. “The policy groups are designed to continue beyond the life of the project, working together to bring their ideas to provincial-level policy makers.”

Now in its second phase, the Kanoppi project builds on earlier findings that showed farmers are keenly interested in developing production – and marketing – systems for both types of forest product. At smallholders’ request, the project created a series of short step-by-step briefs outlining everything from harvesting, to value-added processing to business planning strategies for a range of forest products.

In some cases, the project also invited women to join ‘master tree growers’ training sessions, in which they learned how to estimate the volume of timber in a stand of trees – something smallholders previously relied on brokers to do. Equipped with this knowledge, the women were better able to negotiate and get a better price for their wood.

“We found that in some areas, it’s women who hold the power to negotiate with brokers, while the men invest the money in the plot production,” said Aulia Perdana, a marketing specialist at ICRAF. “We also focused on building capacity in the women’s group to increase their collective bargaining power.”

Other initiatives include promoting ecotourism in collaboration with the local communities and Forest Management Unit in Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara. For example, the project facilitated the construction of  a ‘selfie tower’ in the buffer zone of the neighboring protected forest, which has proven to be extremely popular – and may even be helping to limit encroachment.

Kanoppi is currently developing an integrated forest landscape management strategy for Sumbawa Island and three main watersheds in West Timor, to identify policy frameworks and institutional arrangements that can foster landscape-scale forest management for the benefit of smallholders.

Forest honey tradition brings commercial success

Each year, several members of the Olin-Fobia community in West Timor, Indonesia spend a few weeks in the Mount Mutis Nature Reserve, climbing up towering eucalyptus trees to gather wild honey.

The resulting product – ‘Mt. Mutis’ honey – is exported to neighboring islands Java, Sulawesi and Bali, supporting not only local livelihoods and national forest policy, but also a tradition that is based on forest knowledge passed down through legends and folk tales. Kanoppi documented the honey harvest in a video that was published on Forests News and shared with the community in a ‘village viewing’ under the stars. And to give other Indonesian children a taste of this cultural tradition, the project produced a book which tells the story of 12-year-old brother-and-sister twins from Mutis Valley, who are allowed join the village adults on their annual honey harvest. Secrets of the Mutis Honey Hunters was distributed to schools and an animated video posted online and widely shared.

A tough nut to crack

The candlenut tree is native to Nusa Tenggara and can survive extreme dry seasons, making it a reliable source of non-timber forest products, especially for women. It can also be intercropped with other species like coffee. Candlenut oil is valued as hair tonic, skin moisturizer, and as a condiment in many Indonesian and Southeast Asian cuisines, and the shells can even be used for charcoal. But they are a tough nut to crack – literally – and so farmers usually sell them whole at a lower price.

In 2016, the project conducted a study that found smallholders could make nearly USD 900 more per month by processing the nuts themselves, even if they hired workers to help out. In a five-day workshop run by local partners, men and women from Timor Tengah Selatan, East Nusa Tenggara learned how make cold-pressed candlenut and coconut oils, along with key business planning skills to better market their products. Participants chose to pitch their goods to Bali-based spas and restaurants – with great success.

Kanoppi shared the workshop manual (in Indonesian) with communities in Sumbawa and Timor Tengah Selatan, East Nusa Tenggara to promote the production and marketing of candlenuts. Some of these communities are now able to train other communities, even those in the neighboring islands, in oil production and online marketing.