| This dissertation addresses the issue of whether and how sustainable development can be achieved through efforts to commercialize non-timber forest products. Most of the emphasis to date has been on raw material production; downstream issues concerning market organization or secondary processing have not received adequate treatment in the literature. Moreover, most of the discussion has been based on theory. It is a relatively new area of interest, and there is little empirical evidence to support or refute the theories.;In order to try to fill this gap, a model non-timber forest product (rattan) is studied to derive generalizable lessons. An organizing framework is developed to assess the relevant experience from the rattan sector. This production-to-consumption systems (PCS) approach focuses attention on linkages among and between raw material producers, traders, processors, and manufacturers, and the intensity at which the various functions are performed. A simple diagrammatic representation is developed.;Six rattan systems are studied within the PCS framework, selected to represent a range of intensities (i.e. different levels of commercialization). Strong similarities are found in all of the PCSs in terms of market organization, with strong vertical linkages and relatively weak horizontal linkages, and in terms of relative strengths and weaknesses of participants at different stages in the systems. Explanations are found in the nature of the material and in the prevailing institutional environments. A financial cost-benefit analysis compares three rattan cultivation models.;There is a trend in the sector toward increasing intensification and scale at the processing-manufacturing stages. This is likely to reinforce the trend toward vertical integration. However, even in the face of increasing raw material demand and decreasing resource bases, efforts to intensify raw material production to increase production/productivity, especially by resource poor forest-dependent people have been limited. Three principal economic constraints to small scale rattan cultivation are: (i) time to maturity is too long; (ii) tenure security is inadequate; (iii) the rattan stems market is too limiting so prices are too low. Government policies tend to restrict the movement and trade of unprocessed rattan and generally exacerbate the already weak positions of small-scale raw material producers.;The large commercial importance of rattan products has not translated into incentives for sustainable management of rattan or for broader forest conservation. However, there are feasible production options between the extremes of extraction from wild resources on the one side and intensive plantations on the other that offer potential opportunities for forest dependent people. Presumably similar intermediate options exist for producing other forest products (including timber) as well. A series of policy options is presented intended to help create the necessary economic, institutional, and technical conditions. |
