Forest people and communities neighbouring forests who depend on them for their livelihood have a wealth of knowledge about useful non-wood forest products. They use the forest resources for food, medicine and many other needs. They usually have first hand information on location, abundance, and management of such resources and methods of obtaining the products. Any research that deals with conservation, utilisation and development of forest resources has to take into account the socio-economic aspects related to them. Socio-economic research in NWFPs has in the past been low key, mostly treated as a by-the-way subject to support other aspects. It is emphasised that this be the starting point. Considering that any research on NWFPs is in the first instance to benefit the local people, starting from what they know and value, would be very rewarding to the development process.
Priorities in socio-economic research centre around indigenous knowledge on what is useful and for what purpose, value attached to the products both in socio-cultural and economic terms, and practices which govern harvesting and sustainability of the resources. The understanding of these and related issues should form the basis for the conservation and development of the resources. Moreover, the participation of local people in identifying and formulating the research agenda and decision-making on research projects on NWFPs would undoubtedly benefit future development of forest resources for local use and income generation.
Key words: socio-economic, communities, non-wood forest products
Non-wood forest products, which have in the past ten years attracted the attention of many development agencies, have always been the life support for many rural communities. These communities have lived in and out of the forests using forest resources for their daily needs. NWFPs have contributed to the livelihood of rural populations as they depend on them for food production, health care systems, shelter, clothing, home crafts and many other needs. Historically, this fact tended to be ignored by early forest workers who thought that forests were good only for the continued supply of timber. Many people who had depended on forests for millennia were alienated from the ancestral lands as forests became "protected" from the people as they were converted into forest reserves with the sole purpose of timber production. Fortunately, not all forest lands were protected under these draconian conditions and some have continued to be used by rural communities for their needs, while in other areas regulations were later relaxed to allow rural communities to collect firewood and undertake other low-impact uses.
In addition, as societies have developed in recent years, new food production systems have been introduced, the sick now go to hospitals, no longer relying on traditional health care systems, and clothing and many household items formerly made from forest resources have been replaced by imported products. However, not all daily needs can be satisfied in this way and not all rural communities can afford the new systems. The continuation of obtaining the necessary products from the forests is not by design but by necessity. With NWFPs being the life support for survival of many rural communities, they have thus continued to be very important in the lifestyles of forest dwellers.
We have also witnessed in recent years that often the same forest products are required, even desired, by people in urban centres. With the ever-increasing market economy, the demand for forest products has extended from being for subsistence-level use to trading in both local and international markets. With this increase in demand there is a possible threat to the resources themselves, raising questions of sustainability. If the resources are threatened, then the livelihoods of rural communities are threatened too.
Developing the NWFP sector has many facets to it and serious thinking must go into sustainability issues. One of the most important areas to start with should be socio-economic research.
This question is an intricate one. It has been stated that one of the main aims in the development and promotion of NWFPs is in the first instance to alleviate poverty of the communities by marketing the products. As the issue involves the people and the resources that are to be promoted, a number of factors have to be considered. These are relevant to the relationship between the people and the resources. The following may be the questions that need answers before other steps are taken:
· What is the role of forests in people's livelihoods?
· What is known to be useful?
· Who owns and who uses the resources?
· What value is attached to them?
· Would the people be interested in commercialisation and if so, would the production be sustainable and would there be alternatives?
· What skills are available for resource and product development?
· What institutional framework exists for management?
· How are the local people to participate?
While it is known that many rural communities depend on NWFPs for their livelihoods, the extent of dependency needs to be established.
The materials used can only be ascertained by carrying out socio-economic studies among the communities as the uses vary from community to community, even within small geographic locations. The information may relate to food items, medicine, home crafts, building materials and other products, including their relative importance.
In some communities the resources are owned or inherited by different individuals, family or clan and use may be limited to the owner, thus controlling access.
Some resources may be for cultural or religious purposes, which may not allow development for markets.
One can find out if any of the products are actually sold and the size of the markets. The community members have to decide whether to commercialise. This could depend on sustainability or other considerations.
Particular people may be skilled in producing particular items; for example while men may be involved in collecting honey, women would be better at making baskets. The number of such skilled individuals would make planned production easier. The special skills of traditional healers would make exploitation of medicinal plants especially useful.
2.7. Management institutions
Communities mostly have organised institutional frameworks under which resources are managed and activities controlled. With such frameworks the decision-making on practices for development, conservation and suggestion of alternatives where needed would make it easier for the community to choose options.
The existence of management institutions could ease the participation of the community in developing market ventures and mechanisms for sharing benefits.
The above points are not inclusive but they can show that it would make sense if these socio-economic issues were researched at the beginning of any intended venture in developing and marketing of NWFPs. In the past when planning started from a product, working backwards to local communities, it tended to leave gaps in socio-economic issues. The advantage of starting from socio-economic issues is that it makes it possible to see what can lead to practicable ventures from the beginning and saves time, and considerable effort, in the long run.
Indigenous knowledge encompasses the body of knowledge which indigenous people have accumulated over generations concerning their environment. It includes knowledge on identification, utilisation and management of resources built through observation, experimentation and innovation. Although it is passed on from generation to generation it is not static. People adopt what is passed on, add newer inventions and the whole is then passed on to the next generation. Indigenous knowledge and its application is perpetuated through practices, norms and beliefs which are embedded in different cultures. It is this knowledge that has guided men through ages in living within their environment. They have hunted and gathered from forests for food, medicine and other materials for their needs and they have also used the forests for religious and ceremonial purposes. In essence, developing a relationship with nature. Indigenous knowledge therefore holds what is known by any one community about the useful resources that support livelihoods. Rural communities who have continued to use these resources have tremendous knowledge about them. Through the long association with the resources, they are the best source of information on what can be exploited. The important NWFPs can be easily identified using indigenous knowledge. It has to be remembered that in a community some people are more knowledgeable than others about certain resource use; for example women would be more knowledgeable about food as they are responsible for feeding their families.
Rural communities have different values of forests. Apart from the fact that they obtain food, medicine and other utility items, they have cultural values connected to forests. Some forests are sacred and used for religious and cultural ceremonies. Harvesting of products from these forests is regulated by elders and mostly only allowed for the extraction of medicinal plants. This regulated access to the forests helps to conserve a large number of species acting as a reservoir for future use, especially as a source of germplasm for establishing useful plants on farms. A number of NWFPs themselves are used for cultural purposes. Socially there is definite interest in conserving the sources of these products.
The practices connected to NWFPs aim at the conservation and management of product sources within sustainable levels, thus care is normally taken not to over-harvest. Some plants are tended in the forest, encouraging survival of seedlings, while some are introduced directly to the farm and others are left on farmland when clearing the standing forest. These practices ensure some level of conservation. Other practices touch on NWFP processing and go hand-in-hand with the skills and craftsmanship in producing items from forest products. In addition, the roles of women, farmers and traditional healers and other groups have to be specially noted.
Based on the existing indigenous knowledge of NWFPs, their value and applied practices in use and management, attention can be pointed to the potential for marketing. The potential for wider markets can be explored with products that have often appeared in barter trade or in urban markets, such as fruits, medicines, honey, crafts and others. But it must be shown that the demand does not or is not likely to exceed supply. The local communities will decide on this depending on their knowledge about distribution and abundance of the resources. Decisions taken would ensure sustainability and where necessary lead to looking for alternatives or introduction of some critical species on-farm.
Developing NWFPs for income generation should be guided by possible markets and decisions taken by local communities based on the results of socio-economic research described above. Thus, it is clear that the development of NWFPs has to start from basic socio-economic studies if it is to be seen as a local people's programme.
For the success of developing NWFPs aimed at alleviating poverty of rural communities, the following research issues are recommended:
· Indigenous Knowledge of any chosen community covering what is useful, what is used for home consumption (some of which may be developed for income generation), what appears in barter trade or in markets;
· Indigenous Management Systems on uses, harvest, processing and conservation including product substitution and domestication, tools and techniques;
· Indigenous Knowledge of the Resource Base, covering the ecological factors of NWFPs such as distribution, regeneration and seasonality of the products;
· Subsistence Requirements of local people and the impact of market forces on their livelihood, and possible conflicts;
· Traditional Institutional Framework for guidance and decision-making, business management, social value systems and gender division of labour;
· Traditional Resource Rights, ownership, access and control, and possible benefit sharing from the income generating activities.
Of course, all the above activities should be undertaken with the local communities as full participants in the research.
Figure 1. Decomposing fruits of bush mango (Irvingia gabonensis) prior to sowing (Photo: T. Sunderland).
9. Conclusion
Considering that development and promotion of markets for NWFPs is in the first instance to alleviate poverty in rural communities, the socio-economic research has to be the starting point for any activities before this can take place. This will also be an exercise to identify products with which local communities are familiar and for which they may have skills and understanding.
