O. Ndoye

Markets drive the specialization strategies of forest peoples

Engagement in the market changes the opportunities and strategies of forest-related peoples. Efforts to support rural development need to better understand the potential importance of markets and the way people respond to them. To this end, we compared 61 case studies of the commercial production and trade of nontimber forest products from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The results show that product use is shaped by local markets and institutions, resource abundance, and the relative level of development. Larger regional patterns are also important. High-value products tend to be managed intensively by specialized producers and yield substantially higher incomes than those generated by the less specialized producers of less managed, low-value products. We conclude that commercial trade drives a process of intensified production and household specialization among forest peoples.

Impact of Macroeconomic Change on Deforestation in South Cameroon: Integration of Household Survey and Remotely-Sensed Data

The integration of information from household surveys and data on land-cover changes derived from remote sensing improves our understanding of the causes and processes of land-use/land-cover changes. A household survey covering 552 households in 33 villages was carried out in the East Province of Cameroon. This survey focused on land-use changes since the 1970s. Those data were related to time series of remote sensing satellite data. A major interest of the field data lies in the longitudinal framework of the survey. It highlighted the evolution of the household and its land-use over three periods related to the key macroeconomic periods, and corresponding to the dates of acquisition of the remote sensing data. The research results demonstrate that macroeconomic changes affecting Cameroon have played a fundamental role in the way land-use practices influence the forest cover. The results show that the annual rate of deforestation increased after the economic crisis as compared to the previous period. The household survey information enables identification of the causal relationships and the processes of land-use and land-cover changes. Observations reveal that the beginning of the economic crisis (1986) is associated in time with a strong increase of the deforestation rate related to population growth, increased marketing of food crops, modification of farming systems, and colonization of new agricultural areas in remote forest zones.

Economic crisis, small-scale agriculture, and forest cover change in southern Cameroon

The rate of forest cover loss in the humid tropics of Cameroon is one of the highest in Central Africa. The aim of the large-scale, two-year research project described here was to understand the effect of the countrys economic crisis and policy change on small-scale agricultural systems and land-clearing practices. Hypotheses were tested through surveys of more than 5000 households in 125 villages, and through time-series remote sensing analysis at two sites. The principal findings are that: (1) the rate of deforestation increased significantly in the decade after the 1986 onset of the crisis, as compared to the decade prior to the crisis; (2) the main proximate causes of this change were sudden rural population growth and a shift from production of cocoa and coffee to plantain and other food crops; and (3) the main underlying causes were macroeconomic shocks and structural adjustment policies that led to rural population growth and farming system changes. The implication of this study is that it is necessary to understand and anticipate the undesirable consequences of macroeconomic shocks and adjustment policies for forest cover. Such policies, even though they are often not formulated with natural resource consequences in mind, are often of greater relevance to the fate of forests than forest policy.

Forest resources and rural livelihoods: the conflict between timber and non-timber forest products in the Congo Basin

The forests of the Congo Basin are exploited by rural communities and timber companies at different scales to meet various conflicting interests. The forest contributes in several ways to rural livelihoods, but the growing importance of timber exploitation poses a threat to this livelihoods fabric and to the conservation of biodiversity. For example, 61% of the top 23 timber species exported from Cameroon have important non-timber values to local communities. The paper argues that in the process of forest exploitation, a balanced approach is needed to take into account the interests of both rural communities and timber companies. This will require, among other things, the development and implementation of sustainable forest management plans by timber companies, exclusion from harvesting of timber species that are important to local communities, compensation of timber companies for compliance with management plans, and the involvement of rural communities in monitoring the activities of timber companies.

PRODUCTION AND MARKETING OF SAFOU (DACRYODES EDULIS) IN CAMEROON AND INTERNATIONALLY: MARKET DEVELOPMENT ISSUES

ABSTRACT This paper draws together information from three separate projects on the production of Dacryodes edulis (G.Don) H.J. Lam or ‘safou’ in Cameroon, and its domestic and international trade. The volume of safou fruit commercialised in Cameroon in 1997 was estimated at 11,000 tonnes, equivalent to US

Invisible but viable: recognising local markets for non- timber forest products

7.5 million. Exports from Central Africa and Nigeria to France, the United Kingdom and Belgium were worth over US

A Gender Analysis of Forest Product Markets in Cameroon

2 million in 1999. A study of nine markets in the humid forest zone of Cameroon in 1999 revealed that women dominate the retail trade while men concentrate on wholesale. For both, safou trade is an important long-term livelihood option. Depending on the market and volume traded, weekly marketing margins can be double the minimum wage. Far from being exploited by traders, producers were found to receive 75% of the consumer price on average. The main constraint to both the domestic and international trade is the high perishability of safou.

Non-timber forest products: contribution to national economy and strategies for sustainable management

SUMMARY An emphasis on global markets for non-timber forest products (NTFPs) often overshadows attention to the local trade in many traditionally important products. Inattention to local markets can result in diminished appreciation of their role in supporting livelihoods and potentially lead to further marginalisation of the low-income groups involved. This paper draws on the literature and the research experience of the authors in three different regions of the world to demonstrate the significance of local markets for NTFPs and to build a case for recognising and strengthening support to them. Discussion includes: features of these markets and current trends favouring them; the benefits they bring to producers and traders; their comparative advantages and disadvantages in relation to their role in strengthening livelihoods; and the policy reforms and development support required to improve them. We conclude that a combination of both strong local and export markets permits diversification and choice, assisting poor local people to minimise livelihood risk due to dependence on any single market.

Gender implications of forest product value chains in the Congo basin

Gender roles and the potential to tap womens experiences are keys for African economic development. The paper illustrates this potential with a gender analysis of forest product markets in the Humid Forest Zone of Cameroon by describing the functioning of the market and analyzing male-female differences. The results confirm that gender is the main basis for differentiating size of business, product specialization, and market strategies among traders. Priorities to improve trade also show some male-female differences. At the same time, there are no consistent differences in profit margins between genders, indicating that trading efficiency is similar, and that, given the right conditions, women entrepreneurs can be as successful as men. The results also indicate that the gender gap could be closing among the younger generation entering the market.

Rural enterprise development for poverty alleviation based on non-wood forest products in Central Africa

Meat from wild terrestrial or semi-terrestrial animals, termed „bushmeat‟, is a significant source of animal protein in Central African countries, and a crucial component of food security and livelihoods in rural areas. Estimates of bushmeat consumption across the Congo Basin range between 1 million tonnes (Wilkie and Carpenter 1999) and 5 million tonnes (Fa et al. 2003) and harvest rates are estimated to range from 23 to 897 kg/km 2 /year (Nasi et al. 2008). Many sustainability assessments focusing on tropical forest wildlife in the region have warned about the increasing unsustainability of hunting and associated ecological impacts (e.g. examples within Bennett and Robinson, 2000).The term “value chain” is useful to understand the activities involved in bringing a product from the forest, through processing and production, to delivery to final consumers and ultimately disposal (Kaplinsky & morris, 2000). Value chain analysis is a conceptual framework for mapping and categorizing the economic, social and environmental processes. It helps to understand how and where enterprises and institutions are positioned in chains, and to identify opportunities and possible leverage points for upgrading. This analysis encompasses the organization, coordination, equity, power relationships, linkages and governance between organizations and actors. Photo 7.1: Kola nuts (Cola acuminata) for sale in a market in Kisangani, DRC