On August 15 2019, members of the farmer group of Sedyo Makmur in Gunungkidul started the timber harvests from their Hutan Kemasyarakatan/ HKm forests. The harvest is to be completed over the next 10 days, in a 9-hectare block with the expected yield of about 100 m3 of highly valuable teak.
Before the timber harvests, the farmers were only permitted to use the forestland for agricultural cropping. For years, the farmers have waited the “green light” from the government to harvest the mature teak they have planted since 1990s. There were uncertainties whether the government permitted the harvests given the complex administrative procedures set in place.
HKm is a social forestry program in state’s production and protection forests in Indonesia. It was launched in 1990s to encourage participation of local people in the rehabilitation of degraded forests while providing them with economic opportunities.
In 2007, 35 farmer groups in Gunungkidul, one of which is Sedyo Makmur, were formally granted with a HKm license, covering both management and utilization rights.