98 L OCAL OCAL OCAL OCAL OCAL K K K K K NOWLEDGE NOWLEDGE NOWLEDGE NOWLEDGE NOWLEDGE AND AND AND AND AND M M M M M ANIPULATION ANIPULATION ANIPULATION ANIPULATION ANIPULATION OF OF OF OF OF THE THE THE THE THE FRUIT RUIT RUIT RUIT RUIT M ATA ATA ATA ATA ATA K K K K K UCING UCING UCING UCING UCING ( D IMOCARPUS IMOCARPUS IMOCARPUS IMOCARPUS IMOCARPUS LONGAN LONGAN LONGAN LONGAN LONGAN ) ) ) ) ) IN IN IN IN IN EAST AST AST AST AST K K K K K ALIMANTAN ALIMANTAN ALIMANTAN ALIMANTAN ALIMANTAN Rajindra K. Puri Postdoctoral Research Fellow Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) Jakarta, Indonesia Abstract Abstract Abstract Abstract Abstract Indigenous agronomic and silvicultural practices include the knowledge and skills applied by farmers and others to manipulate a particular tree or a forest. Farmers manipulate plants and their immediate environs to increase both the quantity and quality of some desired product, to reduce the costs of exploiting those products, to reduce attacks or damage by pests, and to communicate to other people that the plant is owned or temporarily being used. This knowledge is invaluable, both as a source of ideas for management of community forests and as a strong justification for including local farmers in all aspects of the development or intensification of tree and other plant crops. This paper describes how an investigation of these practices, in the broader context of local natural resource management, can define problems, suggest solutions, and provide foresters with meaningful points of entry into collaborative partnerships with local farmers. As a consequence of this process, the role of the professional forester is recast as advisor and consultant, rather than director or manager. The illustrative case study is drawn from research in East Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, on the cultivation, harvesting, and marketing of the fruit mata kucing (Dimocarpus longan Lo u r .). Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction Introduction As research and development in community forestry turn back to the roots of technical forestry (Donovan 2001), it is critical that farmers – the intended beneficiaries of these advances – be consulted for their extensive local silvicultural knowledge. Therefore, this paper examines a case of what might be labeled indigenous silvicultural practices or even ethnoagronomy. Jargon aside, this means simply the knowledge and skills applied by farmers and others to manipulate a particular tree or an assemblage of trees. It does not matter if the forest is or was "natural" or is in some way "managed" or "anthropogenic", for the act of manipulation, whether it is to increase benefits or reduce costs, is what is important. Farmers manipulate plants and their immediate environs for a variety of reasons, including: u To increase both the quantity and quality of production of a desired product, such as fruit, wood, sap, or resin; u To reduce the costs of exploiting those products, for example by pruning trees; u To reduce attacks or damage by pests; and u To communicate to other people that the plant is owned or temporarily being used.