Fisheries in the Southern Border Zone of Takamanda - Impact ...

Distribution, Utilization, and Sustainability of Non-Timber Forest
Products from Takamanda Forest Reserve, Cameroon
Terry C.H. Sunderland, Simon Besong, and Julius S.O. Ayeni
1 Introduction
Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are materials
derived from forests—excluding timber but including
“bark, roots, tubers, corms, leaves, flowers, seeds, fruits,
sap, resins, honey, fungi, and animal products” (Clark
and Sunderland in press). NTFPs are collected from a
wide range of ecotypes such as high forest, farm fallow,
otherwise disturbed forest, and farmland (Peters 1996)
for use as food, medicine, and barter. In some cases, they
are the only means for residents of remote forests to
participate in the cash economy (Arnold and Ruiz-Perez
1996). People throughout the tropics rely on the harvest
and sale of NTFPs for their economic well being.
It is only relatively recently that non-timber forest
products have become the focus of research and
development initiatives (Neumann and Hirsch 2000),
primarily to ensure sustainable use of forest resources to
meet human needs while conserving the natural systems
that produce the goods (Wilkie 1999). This paradigm
shift reflects the important role of NTFPs in conservation
and community development initiatives through both
product promotion and coherent strategies for sustainable
use (Wollenberg and Ingles 1999, Neumann and Hirsch
2000).
The framework for sustainable use of NTFPs must
include adequate baseline knowledge of the species
concerned, an understanding of the marketing systems in
which these products are traded, and appropriate
legislation (Cunningham 1999). Such a framework can
serve as the mechanism for equitable distribution of
benefits, community participation in resource
management, and generation of revenues from nontimber
forest products (Neumann and Hirsch 2000).
2 Importance of NTFPs in
Takamanda Forest Reserve
Chapter 11
In common with many areas in the tropics and elsewhere
in West and Central Africa, the inhabitants of Takamanda
Forest Reserve (TFR) and its environs depend heavily on
exploitation of forest resources (Groves and Maisels
1999, Ayeni and Mdaihli 2001, Schmidt-Soltau 2001,
Zapfack et al. 2001). In particular, NTFPs help to
stabilize incomes because they can be harvested when
demand for farm labor is low but when NTFP production
is at its peak (Schmidt-Soltau 2001). It is estimated that
70% of the total population in the larger study area
collects forest products for consumption and sale,
representing an estimated income of 500 million CFA
(about $850,000) a year (Ayeni and Mdaihli 2001), or a
mean of 190,000 CFA (about $320) per household—
39% of total household income (Schmidt-Soltau 2001).
Recent findings also estimate that the majority (68%) of
harvested NTFPs are sold in home communities, 19%
are transported for sale in Nigeria, and 13% are traded in
local Cameroon markets (Schmidt-Soltau 2001,
Sunderland 2001).
In Takamanda, bush mango and eru combined
contribute to 82.2% of household income (Table 1) and
are by far the most valuable products to the communities
within the Reserve. The retail value per unit of other
products such as the Carpolobia cattle stick and Randia
chewing stick is relatively high, but most local
communities realize very little from the harvest and sale
of these products, an inequity that is a key component in
the management of NTFPs in TFR as discussed in more
detail below.
SI/MAB Series #8, 2003, Pages 155 to 172