[Sdpg] Spices A little cinnamon with your coffee

[Fred's Notebook]

To go along with the recent cinnamon and diabetes article, I found that 
cinnamon can be integrated with other forest crops.  This paper mentions a 
method of alternating between coffee and cinnamon production in the same 
plot, depending on pricing.

Fred

http://www.new-agri.co.uk/02-1/focuson/focuson4.html


  A little cinnamon with your coffee?

credit: Paul Burgers
Once more valuable than gold, cinnamon was the cause of trade wars between 
the Portuguese Dutch, French and English who, successively, fought for 
control of the cinnamon trade in Sri Lanka, then Ceylon. Today, the island 
continues to produce cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) providing four-fifths 
of the world's production from smallholdings of four to five hectares. 
Other countries that are significant producers of cinnamon products include 
Indonesia and Madagascar.

In Indonesia, however, it is not Cinnamomum zeylanicum that is grown but 
Cinnamomum burmannii. It is, in reality, almost indistinguishable from the 
taste of even the best grades originating from Sri Lanka, despite the 
thicker and less delicate nature of the Indonesian cinnamon quills. 
Whatever its origin, the sweet taste of cinnamon is often associated or 
combined with coffee but it is in Indonesia that cinnamon and coffee crops 
are intercropped to provide a sustainable agricultural approach in the 
forest margins of Sumatra. And, strangely enough, serving the US coca-cola 
industry as one of the main consuming markets for Kerinci cinnamon.

Life on the boundary
In Gunung Raya, a sub-district on the edge of the Kerinci Seblat National 
Park in West Sumatra, ICRAF scientists have discovered that farming 
households have developed a highly efficient and productive multistorey 
agroforest on steep slopes above the fields where they practise rice 
cultivation. By integrating forest management with agriculture to produce a 
combination of local and exotic crops and tree species, they are able to be 
flexible in their management of resources, resulting in a profitable and 
sustainable system to ensure a secure livelihood.

The integration of agroforests with rice fields in Gunung Raya demonstrates 
the highly complex and precise planning, which has been developed by the 
villagers. The cycle generally begins with the rejuvenation of coffee, 
either by planting new seedlings or coppicing old stumps. At the same time, 
families cultivate commercial, annual crops, such as groundnuts, chili and 
potatoes, which provides immediate ground cover to prevent soil erosion and 
an immediate and regular source of income. These crops are grown until the 
coffee canopy hinders growth, at which time farmers plant cinnamon trees in 
between the coffee bushes. Coffee tends to be harvested for 2-3 years until 
the cinnamon canopy closes and the coffee continues to grow but is unable 
to produce berries. The coffee may then be cut down or, if the price of 
coffee is good, the mature bushes are left in the field so that further 
crops may be harvested if the cinnamon trees are felled. In this way the 
farmer is able to maintain his coffee trees for many years or allow the 
cinnamon to take over. Depending on the family's immediate cash needs, a 
farmer can also decide whether to harvest some of the branches of any one 
cinnamon tree or to fell the whole tree. Interestingly, even during the 
monetary crisis in Indonesia, during which the price of cinnamon bark rose 
sharply, it was noted that there was no large-scale harvesting, as was 
expected, as farmers argued wisely that they needed to cut less rather than 
more cinnamon bark to satisfy their needs.


Credit: Paul Burgers
In other areas of the Kerinci National Park, a similar integrated approach 
has been promoted by ForesTrade (see Spices fuel the peace in Guatemala), 
where farmers were previously clear-cutting the slopes of the park, 
resulting in serious soil erosion and damage to the rice fields below. In 
return for agreeing to use organic and sustainable farming practices, 
farmers are now provided with training, support, and regular pay. Local 
extension staff have helped the cinnamon farmers to intercrop with coffee 
and other spices, and ForesTrade currently has contracts with approximately 
3,000 farmers in 45 communities around the National Park to produce organic 
cinnamon, hot peppers, ginger, turmeric and vanilla, as well as other 
spices, for export.

A prime concern
In Madagascar, cinnamon is not integrated with coffee, instead Cinnamomum 
zeylanicum grows wild throughout the Madagascar rain forest. However, 
traditional harvesting for production of cinnamon bark oil has contributed 
to a "slash-and-burn" culture as mature trees are cut down in order to 
strip the bark. And, as the tradition of "slash-and-burn" agriculture 
continues for the cultivation of rice and other crops, less than 15% of the 
country remains under natural forest (see also Madagascar Country Profile). 
Yet, under a new conservation programme supported by A-SNAPP, cinnamon 
collectors are learning how to create new cinnamon plantations, by clearing 
competing underbrush from previously deforested areas in order to encourage 
the growth of young cinnamon trees.

Within a year, enough leaves have grown on the young trees to allow a 
proportion to be harvested for the production of cinnamon leaf oil, another 
marketable product. Leaf harvest then continues for three years until the 
trees have reached maturity and some of them can be harvested for their 
bark. The newly harvested area is then returned to leaf production until 
the next crop of young trees reaches maturity. As a result, ancient forests 
containing mature cinnamon trees are left untouched, whilst harvesters are 
able to maintain their livelihoods.

ICRAF - International Centre for Research in Agroforestry - For further 
information Email: Paul Burgers
ForesTrade Email info at forestrade.com
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