Assessing the potential of smallholder teak for resilient tropical forest landscapes

Abstract

Teak (Tectona grandis) is one of the world’s most valuable tropical hardwoods, with sustained demand for furniture, construction and high-value wood products. Global planted teak is estimated at about 4.85 million ha, concentrated mainly in Asia but also established across Latin America and Africa. Smallholders manage approximately one quarter of the world’s planted teak—around 1.2 million ha—and ownership is becoming increasingly private and decentralized. Their significance is particularly visible where teak is grown on farms and outside state forests. In Java, for example, many farm households integrate teak into mixed tree-based agroforestry systems supplying domestic wood industries. Such systems can make a substantial contribution to rural livelihoods; in the Indonesian cases examined by some experts, agricultural and timber crops together accounted for approximately 40% of household income. In Myanmar, home to the world’s largest natural teak forests, degradation of natural teak resources has reinforced the importance of well-managed plantations, including stronger support for private teak growers. Smallholders should therefore be viewed as a structural component of the teak economy. Smallholder teak differs fundamentally from large-scale industrial plantation forestry. Trees are often integrated with crops and other species, retained as household assets, and harvested selectively when cash is needed for education, housing, health care or other major expenditures. Teak can therefore function simultaneously as timber, savings, and risk management. Research in Indonesia and Lao PDR shows that smallholder tree growing responds not only to biological productivity but also to tenure security, market demand, regulation, finance and practical silvicultural support. This perspective shifts the question from how to expand teak plantations to how to realize the potential of smallholder teak within resilient tropical forest landscapes. That potential should be assessed through three linked dimensions: economic viability for households, social and institutional viability for producer participation, and environmental viability at farm and landscape scales. The central proposition of this editorial is that environmental benefits are more likely to endure when smallholders can obtain reasonable returns, manage production risks and participate fairly in accessible markets. The analysis draws primarily on the Global Teak Resources and Market Assessment 2022, established research on smallholder teak in Indonesia and Lao PDR, and recent implementation experience from the ITTO–BMLEH Teak Project. The Proceedings of the 5th World Teak Conference (WTC), held in Kochi, Kerala, India, on 17–20 September 2025, are used selectively to reflect recent developments in teak investment, markets, genetics, management and landscape resilience.