Non-timber forest products income from forest landscapes of Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria – an incidental or integral contribution to sustaining rural livelihoods?

R Malleson,E Marshall,M Kshatriya,S Asaha,T Sunderland,K Obeng-Okrah,M Egot

doi:10.1505/146554814812572449

Abstract

This paper discusses the relative importance of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for rural households in Cameroon, Nigeria and Ghana. It aims to compare and contrast the significance of NTFPs for income generation in rainforest areas, both within and across these countries to draw out regional patterns in a wider ecological, social and political context. In doing so, we bring the added value of highlighting the different roles which NTFPs currently play, or might likely begin to play out, in wider landscapes. The contribution NTFPs make to rural livelihoods depends largely on the availability of forest resources and access to markets, as well as socio-economic variables including wealth, gender and migration status. The findings indicate that remote communities and poorer households rely more on NTFP-based income compared to more accessible communities and wealthier households. NTFPs are relatively unimportant as an income source for households in more accessible rural areas, where farm-related income dominates. These findings support the theory that NTFPs are an important component to rural livelihoods and make significant and timely income contributions to poor households. Furthermore, in times of economic and climatic uncertainty, NTFPs and the forest and agricultural landscapes within which they are found, make a significant contribution to the resilience of rural forest dwellers' livelihoods.

Highlights

Socio political contextWest African economies have experienced an average economic growth rate of more than 5% per year since 2005, making the sub-region one of the areas developing most rapidly in the world, with the GDP of petroleum-producing Nigeria and Ghana in particular, increasing between 8 and 9% over the past two years (UNECA 2013)
Most rural households are involved in a number of economic activities in order to diversify their income sources
As these research findings support, it is the poorest households in remote zones who rely most heavily on non-timber forest products (NTFPs) based income because it represents one of only a few opportunities for income generation in such locations

Summary

Introduction

Socio political contextWest African economies have experienced an average economic growth rate of more than 5% per year since 2005, making the sub-region one of the areas developing most rapidly in the world, with the GDP of petroleum-producing Nigeria and Ghana in particular, increasing between 8 and 9% over the past two years (UNECA 2013). In spite of ongoing questions around the legal basis for the concession, forest clearance is underway for the recent allocation of 60,000 hectares of oil palm plantation, bordering five protected areas, in Cameroon, (Greenpeace 2012) This regional economic growth and an expanding agri-business sector, has in part stimulated a livelihoods transition away from the reliance on subsistence activities, in favour of cash crops. As market integration and economic opportunities increase, so do opportunities for households to move into the production of cash crops, provided they have access to land and markets to do so The impacts of this are witnessed at the landscape scale, where land cover change resulting from agricultural expansion, has been accompanied by migration to areas of intensive cocoa and oil palm plantations

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