Cultivation of trees as a way to achieve diversification for smallholdings in Nicaragua

Sammanfattning: This study was carried out in the two villages of Buena Vista and Santa Teresa, department of Jinotega in north central Nicaragua. The purpose of the study was to investigate farmers' attitudes toward timber trees and forests, and to investigate the occurrence of tree species with high timber value in the area. The study shows that people consider the forest to be important for both biological reasons and as an area for extraction of different products, among those timber is one. Today there are only a few farmers who are selling timber, and when it is done it is to some one in the neighbourhood. The study also shows that there is a lack of those tree species with the most valuable timber. On the other hand less popular tree species with good timber properties are abundant. There is a possibility to expand the use of the well-known valuable species: however, the risk is higher and the establishment more difficult than using species that exist today and regenerate in an easy way, for example the laurel, Cordia alliodora. It is possible to extend the cultivation of trees in the areas where coffee today is grown, but it is also possible to establish areas primary used for the cultivation of trees. The way that the forest act is written today makes it hard for small farmers to use their forest resource in a legal way.