Seed and seedling industry is important as the basis of forestry business. The demand of forestry is growing not only for the quality of life but also for providing natural resources. As income grows, the public is looking for better environmental service as well as wooden materials for the living. Because the demand for new renewable energy is increased to cope with climate change and the CER(Carbon Emission Reduction), there is a growing interest in forest resources.
However, seed and seedling industry lacks in size and capacity to allow forest business to catch up with increasing demand. Hence, after examining the current situation of production and usage of seed and seedling, we derive a development strategy for the seed and seedling industry to revitalize forestry business. The scope of the study covers seed production, seedling production, and afforestation.
We found the following as the current problem in the seed industry. There isn’t an efficient control system to manage central seed orchard and seed stand. Hence, the quality degradation of seed as well as tree can occur. Even though there would be enough good seeds in orchard or stand, the shortage of good labor to harvest the seeds and the supply and demand misalignment could still cause a seed problem such as using the seeds from the un-designated seed stands.
We found the following as the current problem in the seedling industry. Both public and private tree nurseries have the same single big problem. That is the shortage of labor and it has been getting worse. Tree nurseries irregularly require much labor during the short period of time and it is getting more difficult in rural areas to recruit labor especially good experienced labor. The shortage of labor is the biggest problem in planting for both public and private forests.
We propose the following as the solutions for the problems of seed and seedling industry. First, it is necessary to establish a mid to long term seed supply plan. Based on this, we need to readjust seed production system. It is better to provide only the major seeds from central seed orchard and seeds for special purpose or selected area from the seed stands. Second, the formulation of the national seed management system can’t be done without proper marketing and distribution of seeds. In that sense, early settlement of the producer verification can restrict the usage of unproven seeds to grow saplings for the forestry.
Third, the shortage of labor can be solved by mechanization and facility cultivating, which is less demanding in labor compared with outdoor cultivating. The expansion of facility cultivating in seedling is possible only when the number of species from facility cultivating of national afforestation is increased, not to mention facility itself and related nursery technique. When the facility cultivating is equipped with modern tools and automatic control system, it is much easier to resolve the labor problem in the seedling industry.
Forth, we need to reinforce the infrastructure both tangible and intangible. In the sense, a professional education organization with specialized program would be desirable to make new seed and seedling specialists and keep them by providing supplementary education.
Fifth, Expanding both the research areas and the research volume is necessary. Considering the required long period of time for growing and the difficulty for species differentiation, the application of BT technology including cloning and tissue culture is important but it is better to focus only on core, major species considering the necessary size of budget for the research.