Income generation from rattan processing is up, and private investment is up 20 percent. Three national conferences have advanced the agenda of sustainable harvesting. Afterwards, these groups expressed a strong interest in receiving business development services. The project, in collaboration with the Upland NGO Assistance Committee, hosted two more nationwide conferences on natural products, which brought together rattan cutters and users, NGOs, research institutions, the private sector, and government officials to discuss and pursue the implementation of sustainable harvesting practices. EnterpriseWorks' interventions have enabled these rattan processors to produce export-quality furniture from sustainably harvested rattan.
Resource sustainability remains an issue.
The project conducted a subsector study that identified various biological and economic constraints to the continued growth of the rattan industry. The depletion of rattan stands is the biggest single threat to the rattan industry, and this threat has brought more demand for policy reforms that will promote conservation. Growth of sustainable rattan enterprises compete with a reliance on traditional unsustainable agriculture. The project's design was based on the assumption that communities would shift away from unsustainable farming practices if and when natural products enterprise activities became more profitable in comparison. Because of the importance of traditional rice farming in the project area, however, it is not yet clear whether the community will actually make this transition.