Fuelwood plantations and the Fijian village community.

Abstract

A further report giving 2-yr-old data from 2 energy plantation trials established in 1981 at the Lololo Forest near Lautoka on acid clay-loam with 10 eucalypt species, Leucaena leucocephala, Acacia auriculiformis, Pinus caribaea and Casuarina equisetifolia. The first report elicited considerable public interest in the establishment of village fuelwood plantations. Weed control in this trial was by hoeing or slashing in the 1st year and by slashing only in the 2nd. One-yr-old data are also reported for 2 further trials established in the same area: (1) on heavy slightly acid black clay soil with Eucalyptus tereticornis, E. grandis, E. torelliana, Melaleuca quinquenervia and A. mangium; and (2) on black slightly acid clay with E. camaldulensis, E. urophylla, E. robusta, E. microtheca and A. mangium. In both trials NP fertilizer was applied after planting, and weeds were controlled by applying glyphosate 2-4 months after planting and thereafter by hoeing or slashing. Best growth was obtained with E. tereticornis and E. camaldulensis. A. auriculiformis and A. mangium were also promising and are suggested as suitable where weed elimination is not possible or desirable.