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โครงการหนังสออเล็กทรอนกสด้านการเกษตร เฉลมพระเกียรตพระบาทสมเด็จพระเจ้าอยู่หัว
TEAK IN MEKONG
natural forest and, therefore, were called
compensatory plantations. In this
compensatory plantation concept, silvicultural
treatment, particularly thinning, was done up
to age of 40 years and plantations, after
heavy thinning at this age, were treated as
natural forests and placed under the
improvement felling schedules.
After the establishment of the plantations in
Tharyawady forest division in 1856
plantation forestry continued and a total of
310 ha had been attained by 1867-68, and a
relatively large area of 1,370 ha was
reached by 1876. Between 1880 and 1900
the area planted annually increased from
400 ha to over 1,620 ha and there was a
more definite effort at creating full stack
even-aged stands. Teak plantations
established up to 1906 totaled about 24,282
ha. By the turn of the century, the
unsystematic ways in which plantations had
been formed became the subject of
considerable criticism and in response to
the proposal by the Chief Conservator of
Forests in 1906 the Government imposed
limitations on the establishment of
plantations in favor of improvement felling
in the natural forests.
After the First World War in 1918, the
Taungya system was firmly established and
ever since, and it became the standard
practice in Myanmar plantation forestry. By
1920, more than 32,376 ha had been
established with teak. In 1937-38, the
Government revised the policy to establish
600 ha of plantations annually. The total
area of plantations by 1940 was 56,130 ha.
No progress was made in plantations
afterwards, but rather, many were destroyed
during the Second World War. After the
war, scattered plantations were made to
enrich teak stocking in annual planting rates
of no more than 20 ha. Plantation
establishment was curtailed during the
period of insurrection from 1948-62 but
resumed in 1964. In those days it was
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adequate to rely on natural forest
management with compensatory planting
without taking risk for a new venture on
large scale plantation forestry.
Starting from early 1970s, block plantations
were formed in the areas with degraded
forests and poor stocking of teak and other
valuable commercial species. As of 2000,
293,782 ha of Teak plantations had been
established, i.e., 41% of total plantations
formed in Myanmar. In early 1998, the
Forest Department launched a special teak
plantation program, which incorporates
new features such as adoption of 40-year
rotation, and management participation of
interested and relevant communities. The
adoption of a definite 40-year rotation
reflects a significant deviation from the old
concepts and final harvest will be made by
clear cutting at the end of the rotation. The
total teak plantations area is shown in
Figure 3-4.
At present, the annual total plantation target
for 1990-2010 has been fixed at around
361,807 ha of which commercial
plantations constitute about 205,550 ha,
representing 57 % of the total plantations.
Amongst these commercial plantations,
around 172,713 ha of Teak plantations have
been established and 51 % of these teak
plantations are being constructed under
Special Teak Plantation Program, which
was commenced in early 1998 at Bago
Yoma Range. This special program has a
defined rotation age of 40 years, and this
program is, in fact, a national endeavor to
maintain and increase the production of
teak for both domestic and export markets
with due consideration for social benefits
and environmental restoration of degraded
forests. With regards to establishing forest
plantations, it is better noted that plantation
forestry in Myanmar is not a substitute for
natural forests management, supplementary
as has been stipulated in the Myanmar
Forest Policy, 1995 (Myint et al., 1999).