Capacity building activities to strengthen agroforestry as sustainable economic alternative in the Orangutan habitat conservation program of Batang Toru, North Sumatra

Positive incentives for appropriate land manage ment need to be created to counter the incentives for negative change if we are going to preserve orangutans by conserving their habitat in Batang Toru area. Working with co mmunity members and other local partners to develop new ways for them to earn income wit hout disturbing the forest or the orangutans, may provide win-win solution in the orangutan conservation program. In that context, ICRAF and Winrock International see a number of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) that are produced in Batang Toru forest systems (e.g. mixe d tree gardens, agroforests, and forests) as having potential to diversify and secure viable livelihood options for the people of Batang Toru. In all those land use systems (mixed tree gardens, agroforests, and natural forests) planning and management is limited. Thus, improvements in managing the species/crops and developing market linkages could benefit the productivity, profitability and sustainability of these systems. Community strategies were developed to provide improved technical approaches that enhanced the productivity and/or profitability of non timber forest products (NTFP) in their agroforestry livelihood systems compatible with the protection of orangutan habitat and to catalyze the communities’ capacity for marketing those products. A series of training events became the corner stone for building the farmers’ capacity to manage their agroforest garden into more productive, market oriented and envi ronmentally friendly ways. The trainings were conducted by ICRAF, Winrock International and local trainers in 5 selected villages where the community had helped set the agenda. Training series were divided into 3 major areas (i) Building technical capacity related to rubber, cocoa and aren (the three main agricultural commodities in the selected villages) and livest ock, (ii) Building capacity in marketing agroforest products, and (iii) Building capac ity on livelihood-conservation awareness. Farmers are very appreciative and greatly be nefited of the technical support provide by ICRAF and Winrock over the year and a half pe riod. The support enabled farmers to greatly enhance their technical knowledge and capacity. Of the activities conducted, those related to rubber management and production had the greatest impact.

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5716/WP15455.PDF

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