Sustainable farm timber for smallholder cropping systems

Smallholder agricultural systems often de monstrate a complexity of practices embedded in local and traditional technologies gear ed to sustaining household incomes and food objectives. Farm timber and mainly subsistence crop production practices were assessed thr ough a broad cross-sectional survey in Meru Central District of Kenya. Secondar y data together with findings of a related study were collated to inform smallhol der practices against broad sustainability dimensions. Most smallholder tree and agricultural crop cultivation are based on the assumption that the two are sufficiently mixed to provide hous ehold tree product needs, food and income. Crop production in the surveyed area was found to be largely subsistence in natur e with mixed systems inco rporating crop polyculture on land sizes between one and two hecta res on average. Production is strongly hinged on mixed system s even though farmer prefer ence on monocultural cropping was recorded. Overall, food and income objectives define cropping systems on available land. There is a st rong reliance on the ‘green revolution’ inputs to boost production even though sometimes only meager resources are available. Soil nutrient depl etion is implicated in lim iting possible production potential. Timber tree cultivation along with subsistence crops, even though practiced for several decades is found to be an emergi ng enterprise for many smallholders. Different smallholder croppi ng systems were found to support varying levels of timber production. For instance, the cott on zone was found to have more timber volumes than the coffee zone per farm. Farm timber production practices are on the one hand found to experience huge market opportunities and on the other certain peculiar challenges. Poor timber quality occasioned by poor silvicultural practices and poor pricing are key set backs on the practice. Routinely, poor policy support environment is cited as the key bottleneck stifling smallholder timber enterprise growth. Failed plantatio n forestry seems to give impetus to smallholder timber.

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