Evaluating Contribution of Trees Outside Forests for Income of Rural Livelihoods of Terai Region of Nepal

Yogendra Yadav,Bishal K Sitaula,Bir Bahadur Khanal Chhetri,Krishna Raj Tiwari,Santosh Raymajhi

doi:10.4236/ojf.2020.104024

Abstract

Trees Outside Forests (TOF) is a reliable source of income for farmers in rural area but study regarding this has not been explored in depth yet. Therefore, this study was objectively conducted to assess the contribution of income from TOF products in annual income of rural household. Dhangadimai Municipality of Siraha district, Nepal was selected as study site. Altogether, 300 household surveys and 20 Focus Group Discussions (FGD) were conducted to find the income sources and their contribution including TOF. The descriptive analysis and unitary method were applied to analyze the collected data. The off-farm income was US$ 1802.57 in total per household. Among it, the highest income was from remittance around US$ 762.34 (42.29%) and the lowest from government job around US$ 166.68 (9.25%). The farm based total annual income per household was US$ 685.94 on which, the highest income was US$ 220.28 (32.11%) from grains and the lowest income was US$ 0.04 from ploughing other farmers’ field. The total value of livestock of average household was US$ 805.99 and out of this, the highest value was of buffalo i.e. US$ 333.01. At the same time, annual income from TOF product was about US$ 853.31 in total per household. Out of this, the highest income was approximately US$ 521.90 (61.16%) from fruits followed by US$ 214.77 (25.17%) from selling of timber. The highest net income per household was US$ 448.66 respectively from selling timber by rich family while US$ 233.78 for medium family. In addition, the net income from selling fruit by rich, medium and poor family was US$ 427.82, 550.71, and 382.43 respectively. Specifically, the total contribution of income only from TOF product was US$ 853.3027 (20.57%). This research will be useful document to develop the economic policy related to TOFs in different agroforestry systems

Highlights

The role of trees grown outside forests (TOFs) was increasing attention in the world after the mid-1970s
This research will be useful document to develop the economic policy related to TOFs in different agroforestry systems
The income generated especially from sale of fruit, timber and fuel wood included under the Trees Outside Forests (TOF) income

Summary

Introduction

The role of trees grown outside forests (TOFs) was increasing attention in the world after the mid-1970s. Trees Outside Forests (TOF) comprise all trees excluded from the definition of forest and other wooded lands (FAO 2001; Bellefontaine et al, 2002). Trees planted outside forests and inside forests share many attributes (Arnold, 1997; McCullough, 1999) but they are not entirely similar. The reason behind this is trees alone do not create forests and trees are not found only in forests (Long & Nair, 1999). Tree Farming and the product sale and the related business generated over 177,000 jobs for the local rural people in Bangladesh (Choudhury & Hossain, 2011) and it was increased to 5.83 million people in 2016 (BFD, 2016)

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Discussion

Conclusion