The Acacia ( mainly A. Mangium
and A. Crassicarpa ) are major fast growing tree species in
forestry plantation in Asia and Pacific.
Natural tropical forest are quickly
being depleted and where natural
forest remain , international
political and economic pressure
for their preservation has been
growing rapidly. |
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The future of forestry in
the region depends on the extent to which
commercial system for supplying tree products address
the need for
sustainable production. Plantation forestry using fast growing species
has been adopted in many countries as one
option for sustainable
supply of tree products and reducing pressure on natural
forests. |
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| Acacia
Rehabilitate Maginal
Site |
The Acacias is playing a growing
role in this development due to its
versatility and ability to recapture
grasslands dominated by noxious
weed , Imperata cylindrical and
many degraded sites otherwise un
-suitable for agriculture or forestry
purpose. Their ability to grow on
marginal soils and improve their |
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fertilityexplain the rapid expansion of
Acacia plantation in the tropics.
In fact Acacia now accounts for more than 35% of the
Tropical Tree
plantation. In SFI alone, out of the 32000 ha of Industrial Tree plantation
, 21,400 ha are Acacia. |
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Acacia
enrich the peasant
Unlike other plantation species, A Mangium and other
Acacias is a
popular agroforestry species for the local peasant because it is less site
selective and fast growing. In Sipitang , around SGI pulpmill area , more
than 2000 ha of home garden Acacia’ were planted by the local farmers. |
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Nitrogen
fixing, enriching degraded site
Comparing to other tree species like pine and
eucalyptus, Acacia is
preferable to the farmers, because its is a legume fixing around 40 kg of
nitrate/ per hectare per year, thus enriching the soil. |
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| Acacia
plantation reduces exploitation of natural forest |
The Acacia plantation though not
containing the diversity of wildlife
and tree species of natural forest, it
contribute greatly to the ability to
conserve the natural forest. Acacia
grow 10 times faster than the native
forest, the production from 1 hectare
of Acacias plantation will lessen
the pressure of harvesting 10 ha of
native mixed tropical forest , thus
reduces the reliance of exploiting the
natural forest. |
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Acacia- a
renewable raw material
Plantation provides renewable raw material for the wood based industry
on a sustainable basis. |
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Copyright
1999-2001