How do smallholder forest farmers' organizations manage and commercialize wood products? – A global systematic review

Collective action approaches in the commercialization of wood forest products from smallholders in a rural setting are not fully investigated and understood. This implies the necessity to gain a better understanding on the state of forest farmers' organizations (FFOs), with a view to identifying current and future research issues to be addressed. This systematic review, thus, aims to provide a knowledge base for FFO research grounded on (1) the policy context within which FFOs operate, and (2) the typology of their performance with reference to resource mobilization, commercialization of wood products and benefit sharing mechanisms. We reviewed 57 FFOs worldwide which facilitated wood production and commercialization services for small-scale farmers. The identified FFOs were classified into three categories. The first category FFOs are characterized by those facilitating farmers managing communal forestland and commercializing wood products with bare value addition. Category two FFOs comprise of FFOs facilitating farmers with private or communal lands and commercializing value-added wood products. Category three FFOs are similar as previous, but have a more diversified portfolio and linked to at least two market channels. Research on FFOs in the last three decades points out to an emerging trend of smallholders with farm forestry plots across the tropics and the need for FFOs to balance social and financial objectives. The synthesis suggests the need for empirical research, such as in assessing the organizational capacity of existing rural farmer's organizations in facilitating management and commercialization of wood products, and analyzing smallholders' willingness to participate in an FFO.