list of figures - Terry Sunderland

Table 31. Findings and recommendations of selected socio-economic and market-related surveys
of the rattan sector in Africa
Reference Methodology Constraints to rattan
development as identified by
Shiembo, 1986 Interviews with
traders and artisans in
Cameroon (n = 768)
Falconer, 1994 Interviews with urban
artisan operations (n =
39); and with rural
harvesters & traders (n
Morakinyo,
1995a; 1995b
= 1008)
Interviews of
harvesters, traders and
artisans in Nigeria (n
= not specified)
Ndoye, 1994 Interviews with
farmers/harvesters (n
= 52)
Townson, 1995 Internviews with
entrepreneurs (all
NTFPs) in Ghana (n =
955)
Defo, 1999;
Trefon and Defo,
1998
Interviews with rattan
harvesters in
Cameroon (n = 84)
Sunderland, 1998 Interviews with
harvesters and artisans
in Bata, Equatorial
Guinea (n = 25)
This study Interviews with urban
artisans in Cameroon
(n = 174)
stakeholders
Huge fluctuations in prices
realised (scarcity? transport?);
monopolistic nature of trade
(middle-men); rotting of cane
before it reaches market; crude
tools available for
transformation.
Scarcity of cane; lack of adequate
equipment for processing
Scarcity of cane; open access
nature of harvesting (“outsiders”
harvesting); lack of control by
Forestry Department over quotas;
rotting of cane before reaching
market
Increasing scarcity of wild
resource; would like to plant
rattan but do not know how
Scarcity of raw material
(including cane) due to forest
clearance
Scarcity of cane = alternative
income generating activities are
necessary (bushmeat hunting)
Seasonal scarcity of cane; poor
quality of transformation and
processing (need for training);
Scarcity of cane; need for
cultivation; poor quality of
transformation and processing
(lack of training); lack of artisan
union (high competition); lack of
credit facilities; lack of
machinery/technology for
processing.
8.6 AMOUNT AND VALUE OF THE TRADE
278
Summary of
recommendations
Need to undertake socioeconomic/marketing
research
on rattan to capture real value;
need to “cure” cane after
harvesting; improve methods of
processing
Include cane in rural forestry
programmes, planting of cane in
buffer zones; plantation
development; better processing
methods
Plantation development;
enrichment planting;
sustainable forest management
in context of community forest
management; village-based
techniques of curing cane
introduced
Introduce rattan into
agroforestry systems
Interventions should include
community forest management
and investigate ways of
increasing supplies through
cultivation.
Regular supply of cane to
artisans will reduce need for
other forms of destructive forest
use.
Ensure regular supply of cane
through better forest
management and cultivation;
training in improved processing
and transformation
Ensure regular supply of cane
through better forest
management and cultivation;
training in improved processing
and transformation; encourage
development of artisan union;
invest in central processing
plant
Although it has been speculated by all of the studies cited above that the rattan trade is
extremely lucrative, very little quantitative or comparative study has been undertaken
in this regard. Table 27 (below) summarises the findings of some of these studies
where quantification of the field data has been possible.