SMLHDR TREE

closed

The project seeks to assist the Government in developing more effective programs of reforestation and of tree farming by farmers with small- and medium-sized holdings. The reforestation component of the project is designed to assist the Government in developing 3,000 ha of much needed pine plantations and in learning to deal more effectively with the problem of shifting cultivation and grazing in forest reserves. The tree farming component would provide credit and technical services to tree farmers to assist them in establishing commercially viable tree farms on marginal agricultural lands. Almost all the beneficiaries under the smallholder tree farming component would be farmers whose present incomes are lower than the absolute poverty level; the project would help to double their incomes in four to eight years. The main risks relate to the reforestation component of the project and include the need for adequate protection of plantation trees, possible resettlement of people in the project areas, and the responsiveness of the tree species planted to local growing conditions; the project has been designed to minimize these risks.