Overview
This project aims to increase native tree stocking in the landscape of northwest Vietnam through smallholder micro-enterprise and research for timber industry application.
This project will increase tree cover in Muong La District, Son La Province by developing a farmers’ cooperative nursery using participatory action research to produce and sell fruit, fuelwood and timber trees, supporting members’ tree planting on their own lands and enabling income generation. During their work in FST/2010/034 (AFLI) and FST/2016/152 (AFLI2), the proponents of this project established collaboration with the staff of the 15,807 ha Muong La Nature Reserve, established in 2015. This is where the proposed nursery will be located, and which will be the source of germplasm for the little-studied timber species. Muong La Nature Reserve (MLNR) staff and Tay Bac University faculty (also in FST/2016/152) will join local farmers in developing and operating the nursery. Farmers and MLNR staff will receive training in nursery production, horticulture, and microenterprise.
Seedlings produced will be a mix of saleable, quick-yielding fruit species keenly sought by farmers, fuelwood, and high-value native timber species needed by the timber industry.
Project outcomes
- Evaluating market and economic potential for farmers’ cooperative native seedling production.
- Developing farmer-appropriate production of native fruit and timber seedlings.
- Generating silvics knowledge of selected timber species through experimentation.
