Enhancing tree seedling supply via economic and policy changes in the Philippines nursery sector

The project commenced in April 2007. A focus of initial project activities was to examine the respective roles and effectiveness of the private and public sector in the tree nursery sector (Objective 1 of the project). We have described the current and public sector nursery industry and policy environment in the Philippines. We have surveyed a total of 177 nursery operators in Leyte and Mindanao including nursery operators and nursery managers from communal, government and private nurseries. The survey involved personal interviews with respondents and assessment of the physical quality of planting stock in the nursery. Preliminary data analysis has been undertaken and published in a conference paper. We have also undertaken a comparative analysis with other SE Asian countries, including both a desktop study and visits to Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand to look at nursery practices and systems. The results of this investigation have helped inform other activities in the project and journal papers based on this analysis have been published in a special issue of Small-scale Forestry.
We have developed a policy assessment model and used this to identify a series of policy options to be implemented by the project at the local level in conjunction with DENR and the World Agroforestry Centre. The policy assessment model is based on a Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) and has undergone extensive validation and testing. The refined model was then used to identify key leverage points for intervention. Stakeholders at a project workshop developed a series of potential pilot projects to be considered for implementation as part of the project. The BBN was then used to explore potential impacts of possible policy interventions and from this process the 'best bet' intervention measures were identified and pilot studies initiated. Improving Technical Skills was consistently a very important intervention for lifting the effectiveness of all nursery sub-sectors. Training, however, which directly influences Technical Skills in the BBN model, was found to have little influence on Technical skills for the individual and communal nursery sectors in particular. Another interesting finding arising from the BBN, was that implementing interventions simultaneously, as an intervention package, is much more likely to improve nursery effectiveness that implementing a single intervention by itself. The analysis of the ratings of potential areas for intervention by participants revealed three main themes, namely Markets, Quality of Seedlings and Funding (of nurseries). We used the model to identify a series of possible intervention measures and then refined and reduced these and developed pilot schemes in which the measures were implemented at a local level. This was achieved with extensive consultation and involvement of key stakeholders and researchers. The pilot studies are currently being implemented.
We have also commenced an economic evaluation of the private sector nurseries. We are using data from the survey of nursery operators and managers to develop benchmarks of current performance and to identify improvements in current business practices. We have also commenced work on testing business strategies to enhance the economic viability of tree seedling nurseries. Extension materials on best nursery practices are being developed and will soon be distributed to nursery operators and extension workers. Training of nursery operators have been carried out to enhance their skills in seedling production and improve their knowledge about the importance of seedling quality. We will conduct further training and assessments of the effectiveness of the training over the next year. Collaboration with four pilot municipalities in Leyte has been established and a Memorandum of Agreement between the project and the mayors of these municipalities were signed. The agreement emphasizes the regulation of the seedling quality from the communities of these municipalities. Controlling of seedling quality will be the responsibility of the Local Government Unit with the technical support from the project. The project has started to draft the nursery accreditation and certification procedure, and develop criteria for certifying nurseries, which require them to apply the best practice technologies. Certified nurseries are expected to attract more sales and higher prices.