In West Sulawesi, Indonesia, a community forestry program is enabling farmers to legally grow crops and trees within the forest.

An article in Mongabay.com outlines how the Indonesian government’s Community Plantation Forest (HTR) program encourages local communities to plant and manage commercially sustainable forests.

One farmer who has benefited from the program is Indra who maintains a 2 hectare plot in Pamulukkang Forest at the base of Tanete Kindo Mountain. He grows a range of tree species, including cocoa, hazelnut, coffee, rubber, palm sugar and white teak.

"Through HTR, the people were given the right to manage the land under the condition that we must plant before harvesting—instead of taking what already exists," says Indra. "In addition, we must also plant a wide variety of crops."

Indra and others in the community received training in how to effectively plant and manage forest species when the HTR program was first established. They continue to use this knowledge in preparing and raising seedlings and working with other farmers to improve forest management.

Read the full story: Farmers help restore degraded forests in Sulawesi by Loren Bell and Revelation Chandra, Mongabay-Indonesia (January 15, 2015).