People's Seedling Nursery and Social Forestry Demonstration Plot in Tambakrejo Village, Southern Malang – East Java

Thousands of avocado fruit tree seedlings could be seen neatly arranged in the People's Seedling Nursery (locally abbreviated as KBR) managed by Sugianto Forest farmer in Tambakrejo Village, Sumbermanjing Wetan District, Malang Regency - East Java. Initially, the KBR nursery was initiated in 2019 in line with the issuance of the Decree of the Minister of Environment and Forestry number SK.944 / MENLHK-PSKL / PKPS / PSL.0 / 3/2018 concerning the granting of Social Forestry Forest Utilization Permits (IHPS) to the Maju Mapan Forest Farmer Group (locally abbreviated as KTH) covering an area of 289 ha.

At the beginning, this KBR nursery was granted 60,000 fruit tree seedlings from Brantas Sampean Watershed and Protected Forest Office (locally abbreviated as BPDASHL) to be distributed free of charge to the members of Maju Mapan forest farmer group. After the seeds were distributed evenly to forest farmers, Sugianto decided to continue the KBR nursery independently. Since then, Sugianto, supported by Maju Mapan forest farmer group and Profauna Indonesia, has been actively nursing various fruit trees to be planted in the damaged forests. The fruit trees being planted are the types of avocados, soursop, jackfruit, mangosteen, durian, cloves and others.

"My dream is to restore the forests that have been damaged, so that we will no longer find it difficult to find clean water during the dry season. I provide these tree seedlings not only for commercial purposes, but also to help farmers who want to plant trees in the damaged forests," Sugianto said with tearing eyes because he was emotionally moved.

Currently, around 80,000 tree seedlings from the KBR nursery managed by Sugianto, have been planted by forest farmers. The tree seedlings are not only planted in the Sumbermanjing Wetan District area but are also planted on the slopes of Mount Arjuna, Northern Malang - East Java.

In addition to managing KBR nursery, Sugianto is trusted by Maju Mapan forest farmer group to lead the social forestry plots in Tambakrejo Village. The plots, which are also supported by Profauna Indonesia, is temporarily 1.3 ha, which was originally in the form of unmanaged or barren land. The land was then planted with more than 700 seedlings of several types of trees.

"This demonstration plot land used to be a forest area managed by the Forestry State Owned Enterprise (locally acronymized as Perhutani), then there was looting, and it became unmanaged. We have been planting fruit trees that can provide economic benefits for local communities," said Mochammad Firman, Chairman of Maju Mapan forest farmer group.

Properly managed social forestry programs will provide benefits to the welfare of the local communities, without compromising the conservation function of the forest itself. The hope is that there is harmony between economic and ecological interests in the forest.

"Intensive community assistance is the key to the success of the social forestry program. The technical and policy initiative for Maju Mapan forest farmer group is the called Indonesian Social Forestry Community Movement (known as Gema PS), while Profauna is an assisting on the ground level to ensure that the implementation of this social forestry is in accordance with