Private Forestry Programme piloted a cash incentive mechanism in villages of Lusala and Mgala during the second growing season of the programme, 2015/16. The rationale behind the pilot was to test cash incentive enhancement to the standard tree growing incentive scheme of the programme with the purpose of maintaining high plantation quality and survival. The tree growers were provided with technical instructions concerning the required two weeding types (circle weeding and slash weeding) and a calculation stating the sum of cash they were entitled to if the activities were conducted according to the given standards.
A field exercise was organized in May-June 2016 to visit every woodlot included in the pilot and determine whether they would be eligible for payment through the cash incentive based on the observed level of weeding. A reference group of woodlots in various other PFP villages was also included in the exercise in order to get data for verification of effectiveness of the piloted cash incentive mechanism.
