Contribution of Forestry Provisioning Ecosystem Services to the Household Income of Small Holder Farmers Adjacent Chyulu Hills Forest, Makueni County, Kenya

Musyoka Victoria M

doi:10.19080/ijesnr.2020.23.556117

Abstract

This study set out to investigate contribution of forestry provisioning ecosystem services (FPES) to the household income of small holder farmers living adjacent Chyulu Hills Forest and assess factors influencing utilization of the FPES. A survey research design was used and a sample size of 60 households was randomly selected from two study sites which were purposely selected to enable a comparative analysis. The study area was stratified into the two sites on the basis of ease of access to the forest. Mangelete and Kiu sub-locations were consequently selected. Mangelete was separated by a fence from the forest while there was no barrier between Kiu sub-location and the forest. An interview schedule having closed, and open-ended questions was used to elicit responses from the respondents on the issue of FPES. Results indicated that FPES contributed a significant amount of income to the respondents.

Highlights

Empirical evidence has quantified and qualified the proportion of forest dependency from the entire household livelihood matrix
This is in line with existing literature that rural livelihoods income from the sale of forestry provisioning ecosystem services (FPES) is an important contributor to overall household income for rural residents [41]
The FPES contributed a significant amount of income to the respondents

Summary

Introduction

Empirical evidence has quantified and qualified the proportion of forest dependency from the entire household livelihood matrix. The seminal work by Vedeld et al [1] drawing upon 51 case studies across 17 developing countries revealed that the contribution of forests, mainly through forest income accounted for about 22% of the total household income. In North and South America, the contribution of forest income ranged between 14 and 20% of the total household income. In Asia, forest income varied from 10 to 20% of the total household income [2]. While in sub-Saharan Africa, forest income ranged from 30 to 45% of the total household income [3]. These studies demonstrated the significant contribution of forests towards household economies

Methods

Results

Conclusion