Sale Of Non-timber Forest Products Research Articles

Contribution of non-timber forest products to the livelihoods of households residing adjacent to Loita Forest, Kenya

The use and commercialization of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for livelihood development and their adverse impact on forest ecosystems have received significant academic attention recently. To conserve forests and ensure continued livelihood support, it is essential to harvest NTFPs in a sustainable manner. Thus, efforts to conserve such resources must be preceded by understanding how communities interact with them. This study aimed to clarify the relationship between participation in forest conservation and income earned from forests. The primary data were collected via a socio-economic survey of 151 households residing adjacent to Loita Forest in Kenya. The population in the study area extracts NTFPs, such as firewood, natural medicine, building poles, and honey. There is a positive relationship between participation in forest conservation efforts and income earned from the sale of NTFPs. Thus, the Loita Community Forest is a crucial source of essential NTFPs for adjacent households’ subsistence. Therefore, these households should be encouraged to participate more in forest conservation efforts. Such endeavors would facilitate livelihood development of local communities and sustainable management of forests in Kenya.

Valuation of Non Timber Forest Product in Cameroon: Case of a Community Forest in the East Region

The collection and sale of non-timber forest products (NTFPSs) is a major source of income for households around community (CF) in Cameroon. Although, the importance of NTFPs in sustaining livelihood and poverty smoothening in rural communities, they are highly depleted and poorly conserved. Indeed, the forests where NTFPs are harvested are becoming depleted due to unsustainable exploitation of timber and NTFPs, lack of financial resources to protect the forest and this is threatening the livelihood of those households. To address this issue, sustainable harvesting practices must be adopted and financial resources must be mobilize by households holding the CF. Therefore, this study applied the contingent valuation method by estimating the average willingness to pay (WTP) and the minimum price the households are willing to pay to protect NTFPs. Sixty household surveys from eight villages were undertaken at Morikouali-ye CF in the East Region of Cameroon. To estimate the average WTP for NTFPs sustainable management at the CF level, the study use the logit model and for the minimum price the households are willing to pay, the Turnbull estimator was used. Our findings showed that, the average WTP is 6845.2861 FCFA per household each year and 570.440 FCFA per household each month. Furthermore, the minimum price the households are willing to pay to protect the forest product is 4940 FCFA per household each year and 411.667 FCFA per household each month. The fact that households are willing to pay to protect forest product like NTFPs reflects the high importance of the NTFPs in their daily lives: nutrition, income and health. Therefore, to enhance NTFPs sustainable harvest methods among CF households, it is important to mobilize financial resources, organize and teach NTFPs sustainable harvest methods. Improve traditional use of the forests and promote alternative plants for the same uses should be considered as part of conservation strategies. Moreover, it is suggested that incentives like financial resources should be giving to CF forest protection team members to be more actively involved in sustainable harvest monitoring.

Contribution of the Mutis Timau Protected Forest to Community Income in the Forest Management Unit of South Central Timor Regency, Timor Island, Indonesia

Communities in and around the forest always interact and use the resources to satisfy their daily needs for survival. Forest resources obtained by the community are used to satisfy family needs, and one is an additional family income. This study aimed at determining the contribution of Mutis Timau protected forest to community income. In order to knowing the income that the community earns from the forest, a survey was conducted in nine villages located in and around Mutis Timau protected forest that started from January to June 2018. Nine villages were purposively selected that Mutis Timau protected forest area is administratively under those villages whose communities directly interact with the protected forest. The technique of collecting data was a questionnaire with 353 respondents selected proportionally in each village. Also, observation and literature study were adopted. The data were descriptively analyzed. The results denote that Mutis Timau protected forest provide income to the community through non-timber forest products of IDR1,637,510,566 year-1 of the total income of IDR45,260,686,262 year-1. Community income earned from Mutis Timau protected forest is very low (3.62%) compared to the income gained from horticultural food crops (66.29%) and livestock (30.09%). The income is directly earned from the sale of non-timber forest products to the consumers without having product processes in particular for hunting wild animals, fungus, tubers, and honey. Honey delivers higher income besides other non-timber forest products, such as hunting wild animals, fungus, and tubers.

Forests and food security: a review

Abstract Forests are the largest source of terrestrial biodiversity and contain over half of the world’s terrestrial plant and animal species. In addition to the multitude of species supported by forest systems, forests are also responsible for life-sustaining ecological processes such as nutrient cycling and water regulation. As a rich source of plants, animals, soil, and water, the connection between forests and food seems undeniable. However, until recently, this relationship has been poorly understood. In this review, we explore three main pathways in which forests contribute to food security and nutrition. These include: (1) a direct consumption pathway, (2) an income pathway and (3) an agroecological pathway. We find the following: (1) forests contribute directly to people’s diets through the harvest of bushmeat, wild fruits and other forest-sourced foods; (2) the sale of non-timber forest products contribute to people’s income, enabling the purchase of a diversity of food items from markets; and finally (3) forests and trees support diverse crop and livestock production through an array of ecosystem services such as pollination, soil fertility and water and climate regulation. Our findings shed light on the vital role that forests play in food security and we conclude that further research is needed to understand the interactions between the ecological, socioeconomic and cultural dimensions of forests and diets.

Economic evaluation of massive restoration in Brazil: how to achieve the iNDC-Brazil target

The Brazilian Government has established a target to restore 12 million hectares of the country's forest area by 2030. In this study, we address the economic and financial feasibility of this massive restoration, as well as job creation and government receivables, by applying a traditional valuation method and assumptions from the environmental literature. Conservative scenarios, based on an agricultural producer perspective, indicate that the recovery is economically unviable: the net present value is negative, and though the internal rate of return is positive, it is lower than the cost of capital. However, sensitivity analysis suggests that it may become feasible when considered as an outsourced business and a market for forest carbon capture is included. In terms of public policy, there is still room for creating instruments to improve its feasibility, since we have not addressed other positive externalities and also the sale of non-timber forest products.

Contribution of NTFPs on livelihood of forest-fringe communities in Jaldapara National Park, India

ABSTRACTWe expected that the indigenous communities of Jaldapara National Park depend on the non-timber forest products (NTFPs), and there would be a relationship between socioeconomic variables and their dependency on NTFPs. The study also documented the gap between prices of NTFP items at the household level and in local markets. Multistage sampling procedures were applied with a sample size of 205. The data collected were analyzed through descriptive statistics and Chi-Square (χ2) test. Insignificant values of Chi-Square (χ2) test reveal that there is no association or relationship of NTFP dependency with the socioeconomic and demographic variables of the respondents. The communities do rely on NTFPs for their daily, sociocultural, and cash requirements and assure a safety net during scarcity. There is a variable contribution of NTFPs to total monthly household income (1–70%). We documented 43 species of NTFPs sold either as raw or as processed form. The NTFPs sold were in the form of twigs, shoot, fruit, seed, leaves, mushroom, and fish. A wide gap exists between the price realized by the community from the sale of NTFPs and those sold in the local markets. This calls for institutional intervention for capacity building and empowering the community for processing or value addition and market intelligence.

Indigenous people’s response to the ban on use of forest resources in South India: a gender analysis of governmobility

The traditional livelihood of the Soliga, indigenous people living in Biligiri Rangana Hills, was disrupted by the Government of India through a ban on the collection and sale of non-timber forest products in 2004 and the creation of a tiger reserve in 2011. With this, State control over the Soligas’ forest-based mobility increased and their traditional mobility for subsistence, livelihood, and culture was severely restricted. Arrests and violence were used to intimidate them into moving away from the forest. Using the concept of governmobility, this paper analyzes how indigenous women and men struggle against and cope with the State’s efforts to control their mobility. We found that women and men used different strategies to cope with the situation and support themselves and their families. While men internalized the State’s regulations and changed their mobility patterns completely, women continued to resist the State’s control over their mobility within the forest because of their position as secondary citizens in a patriarchal state. Women’s resistance to or compliance with the State-imposed ban was mediated by their relationship with the State, the relationship being evidenced by the services and facilities offered and opportunities available.

The (in)visible market of miriti (Mauritia flexuosa L.f.) fruits, the “winter acai”, in Amazonian riverine communities of Abaetetuba, Northern Brazil

While the sale of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) is nearly invisible in and marginal to official economic statistics, it is an important source of income for many rural populations in Amazonia. This paper discuss a NTFPs production and marketing chain (Mauritia flexuosa fruits) in Abaetetuba County, Northern Brazil. Research was carried out using the following methods: participant observation, application of semi-structured questionnaires, and by accompanying production during harvest months in 2015. Data show that this channel is made up of many actors, including riverine people (ribeirinhos), middlemen and merchants in Abaetetuba and other regions in Amazonia. Fruits are sold through short distribution channels in Abaetetuba, contributing to up to 80% of all income produced by ribeirinhos during winter months; miriti income ranges from 918.00USD to 2006.00USD per household per harvest depending on the distribution channel used. These values are equivalent to those obtained from acai (Euterpe oleracea) sales obtained by acai producers who employ moderate management levels in Amazonia, a fact that leads ribeirinhos to consider miriti the “winter acai”. The importance of miriti fruit and product sales for households in the study area is striking, and as such, policies to strengthen NTFP value chains are in great demand.

HIV/AIDS and other household shocks as catalysts of local commercialization of non‐timber forest products in Southern Africa

AbstractLocal trade in non‐timber forest products (NTFPs) is increasing globally, yet the causes have been little studied. We examine household shock as a driver of NTFP trade in five southern African countries, with an emphasis on HIV/AIDS‐related illness and death. Over the past two years, 95% of trader households experienced at least one shock, with family illness and death recorded for 68% and 42% of households, respectively. Almost 40% had entered the trade because of HIV/AIDS‐related shocks. Additional shocks included natural disasters, crop pests or failure and livestock loss. The sale of NTFPs was the third most common coping strategy, after kinship and agricultural adjustments. Coping strategies differed between sites and type of shock.

Strategies of Community Empowerment to Manage Protection Forest Sustainably

The Indonesian Government has empowered communities that are living adjacent to forests, but at the same time, protection forests are highly encroached by the local community. In response, our study aims at formulating strategies of community empowerment in protection forest management. Data collection through participatory observation, questionnaire surveys, interviews, and focused group discussions were conducted in the surrounding communities of protected forest areas in Sumbawa District, Indonesia. A combination of descriptive, participatory, and explorative approaches were used for data analysis. The knowledge of local communities on protection forest conservation was found to be on an average level, while their attitudes towards conservation were assessed as being on a higher level. Community empowerment programs implemented by the government were shown to have no significant effect on knowledge improvement, but they were more effective in changing the community's attitudes regarding protection forest management. Local communities were shown to be willing to conduct conservation activities as well as looking for cash income. Therefore, our study suggested that community empowerment programs should link forest conservation with income opportunities for local people, such as implementing conservation agriculture (e.g. agroforestry), partnerships in the production and sale of non-timber forest products, and be conducting clearly reward and punishment for communities.

LEVERAGING RURAL LIVELIHOODS WITH FOREST CONSERVATION IN NIGERIA: THE ROLE OF NON-TIMBER FOREST PRODUCTS

In recent times some economists view Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) extraction and marketing as a better alternative to timber exploitation as a rural livelihood strategy. Harvesting and sale of NTFPs have the potential for accomplishing the dual goals of natural forest conservation and income generation for the rural inhabitants. Meanwhile, realization of these dual goals in Nigeria, require an understanding of how NTFPs functions in the face of marketing, ecological, geographic and institutional constraints. Following a conceptualization of NTFPs, this paper provides a vivid overview of the simultaneous roles of NTFPs in rural livelihood enhancement and forest conservation in Nigeria. It highlights governmental initiatives with respect to conservation, the challenges and prospects of NTFPs as a conservation strategy. Conclusively, the paper suggests that appropriate NTFPs development policies are required to simultaneously address forest depletion and poverty in rural areas of Nigeria.

The role of non-timber forest products in household coping strategies in South Africa: the influence of household wealth and gender

The prevalence and ranking of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) as safety-nets has been well discussed, but rarely quantified. We report on group discussions and household interviews in two South African villages to assess the frequency and nature of shocks and stresses over a 2-year period and the coping strategies employed, stratified by household wealth and gender of the de jure household head. Overall, kinship was the most widely adopted coping strategy, and NTFPs were the fifth most prevalent (employed by 70% of households). There were relatively few differences in the nature of shocks or responses between male- and female-headed households. Wealth influenced the experience of shocks or stresses as well as responses. Poorer households have fewer options with the increased use or sale of NTFPs being the second most commonly adopted strategy. Increased use and sale of NTFPs is a common manifestation of the safety-net function. To reconcile long-term economic development and biodiversity conservation, it is important to understand people’s use of natural resources and the factors that affect this use, including their responses to shocks and stresses.

Nepalese non-timber forest products: An analysis of the equitability of profit distribution across a supply chain to India

The collection and sale of non-timber forest products is a major source of livelihood in some regions of Nepal. The research reported in this paper compares the resource rent or contribution margin of collectors, village traders, Nepali wholesalers and Indian traders for two highly traded non-timber forest products of Nepal, namely asparagus and lichen. The causes of inequitable margins are investigated, and measures for increasing equity within the supply chain are identified. The research revealed that the margin of asparagus collectors was higher than for the lichen collectors, as lichen was subjected to the high transaction costs of illegal exports. Furthermore, collectors who stayed overnight in the forest during the collection period (overnight-stayers) to reduce travelling time had a higher margin than those who went home every day after collection (non-overnight-stayers). In four distinct trading chains analysed, Nepali wholesalers and Indian traders captured most of the resource rent. The difference in collection costs between overnight-stayers and non-overnight-stayers does not affect the margin of other stakeholders in the value chain. It was hypothesised that the inequity is exacerbated by a low level of understanding of marketing among collectors, and this is confirmed by survey results. It is argued that the margin of collectors could be increased by providing training, technical support, market and price information, and other forms of institutional support.

The Impact of NTFP Sales on Rural Households’ Cash Income in India’s Dry Deciduous Forest

In recent years, researchers and policy makers have recognized that nontimber forest products (NTFPs) extracted from forests by rural people can make a significant contribution to their well-being and to the local economy. This study presents and discusses data that describe the contribution of NTFPs to cash income in the dry deciduous forests of Orissa and Jharkhand, India. In its focus on cash income, this study sheds light on how the sale of NTFPs and products that use NTFPs as inputs contribute to the rural economy. From analysis of a unique data set that was collected over the course of a year, the study finds that the contribution of NTFPs to cash income varies across ecological settings, seasons, income level, and caste. Such variation should inform where and when to apply NTFP forest access and management policies.

Valuing the rain forest: Economic strategies by small-scale forest extractivists in the Amazon estuary

The current interest in non-timber forest products as an economic option for the Brazilian Amazon represents a radical departure from the policies that have guided development in the region during recent decades. Despite this interest, little is currently known about the forms of resource management or economic strategies practiced by populations dependent on such resources. In this study, we measured the annual income and expenditures of ten households on Combu Island, located in the Amazon estuary near the major port city of Belem; in addition, we documented local uses and management of natural resources on the island Average annual income per household was found to be over U.S. $4000, derived primarily from the harvest and sale of non-timber forest products. The results of this study show that the combination of proximity to a major market and appropriate resource management can lead to high and apparently sustainable economic returns.