The booklets are written for rural households interested in improving the sustainability of their rattan harvesting, and for policy makers, development workers and researchers who have the opportunity and/or influence to preserve, sustain and share the Dayak Benuaq system.

This collaborative venture turned out to be more difficult than initially envisioned since communications and revisions had to work across four islands in Indonesia and the Philippines. The technical booklets, drafted in January 2001 and revised in March, were field tested in Rizal, Palawan and Occidental Mindoro with indigenous people from the Pala’wan tribe and the Alangan Mangyan, respectively. They were also field-tested in East Kalimantan.

In June, a Dayak Benuaq representative from East Kalimantan joined the Philippine study tour of the NTFP-EP one of whose activities was to visit rattan gatherers who were interested in or had been testing the Indonesian system. The sharing and technical inputs were not as extensive as planned because bad weather limited the time in the field. But the sharing did reveal that the learning manual was best utilized with supplementary inputs to make the technique become more adaptable to Philippine conditions, e.g., additional tree support, and consideration of soil differences.

By October, 2001, Tagalag and Bahasa Indonesia versions of the booklets were published. They document in detail the step-by-step method of rattan planting and management and come with user guides for field workers. An English document has also been prepared for other audiences. This explains the policy, market, and institutional contexts in which the system exists.

The NTFP-EP plans to have small sessions to disseminate the information rather than just distribute the booklets. Enthusiasm over the booklet is growing. Since it has been promoted on the Web, NTFP-EP has begun receiving requests for copies from NGOs, POs, international agencies and even from the private sector.
-Maria Cristina Guerrero