Forests have always been exploited by people living in and around them for millennia. In addition to their socio-cultural value, the use of natural resources by forest dwelling/dependent people has been confirmed by many studies describing the relationship between people and the forest. Results of studies highlighting the relationship between people and the forest show that NWFPs constitute complementary sources of food security and medicine for households, and are increasingly important sources of cash income. Against this background, NWFPs have become one of the focal themes in discussions about forest-people relationships. Similarly, campaigns focussing on the promotion of sustainable forest exploitation techniques, including that of NWFPs, have been high on the agenda of many conservation and development agencies.
Using household cash income sources, income-generating activities and household activity calendars, this paper introduces the concept of farming systems into the exploitation of NWFPs and outlines the pattern of adaptive response by forest dependent/forest dwelling households in four villages of the support zone of the Korup National Park. The household is used here as a sociological concept representing a collection of different socio-economic units, with overlapping functions or roles. The household represents a mix of production, consumption, and food-sharing units. Similarly, a farming system as described in this paper comprises the household, farm, forest (including any surface water) and livestock. Within this broad framework, key elements of the rural setting are manipulated by members of the household to ensure their food security.
One virtue of introducing the farming systems perspective to an examination of NWFP exploitation is that it highlights the dynamic interactions between households and their components. We argue that it is not the farm, it is not wage labour, it is not livestock, it is not remittances, but all of these components, in sometimes minuscule amounts, that ensure household food security. Furthermore, the contribution of NWFPs to ensure household survival and food security is also an important component. In terms of actors involved, the entire household participates in the exploitation, consumption and marketing of NWFPs.
The Korup National Park, situated in SW Province, Cameroon, was created in October 1986 and covers an area of about 1 259 km2. In addition to the core-protected area, three forest reserves surround the park: the Ejagham, Nta-Ali and the Rumpi Hills Forest Reserves. These reserves, together with the 172 villages situated within and around the park, constitute the Korup Project Support Zone. The park itself and the Support Zone make up the Korup Project Area covering an area of about 3 500 km2. To date, the major donors of the Korup National Park Project have been the European Union, WWF-UK, DFID and GTZ .
According to Thomas et al., (1989), and Mutuba & Balinga (1996) the local population of the project area can be grouped into five major linguistic groups. These are the Ejagham, the Balong, the Korup, the Isangele and the Oroko. As a result of slight language variations, these ethnic groups could be broken down into more than ten tribal groups including Njamaya, Ngunaya, Obang, Keru, Korup, Bakoko, Batanga, Bima, Bakundu and Ngolo.
Based on this socio-cultural background, a household survey was conducted in the North and Northeast of the Korup Project area, which lies within the intervention zone of GTZ. This area has a full representation of the ethnic/tribal groups described above.
Using ethnic/tribal affiliation as the initial stratification factor, the study villages were selected using stratified sampling procedures. However, because selected villages had to satisfy both the sampling procedure and concern for the development of people centred conservation within the support zone, the villages of Abat, Bakebe, Banyo and Otu were selected for study. These case study villages maintain important trade relations with many feeder villages within the Korup Project area (see Table 1). Indeed, the four villages serve as gateways out of the enclave project area for the surrounding villages. Furthermore, Otu is an important cross-border trade centre and shares the same socio-cultural history with the other Ejagham villages in the Cross River State of Nigeria. Banyo is on the border with the park, immediately adjacent to one of the villages located within the park boundary which has been proposed for resettlement.
Table 1: Villages having trade relations with survey villages.
ABAT |
BAKEBE |
BANYO |
OTU | ||
Bayib-Ossing |
Fortabe |
Barika-Batanga |
Ayaoke | ||
Mgbegati |
Tinto-Kore |
Babianbanga |
Ekoneman | ||
Osselle |
Tinto-Wirye |
Ijoye |
Ekang (Nigeria) | ||
Bakut |
Tinto-bu |
Mofako |
Nfamiyen (Nigeria) | ||
Ekogati |
Ashum |
Lobe |
Kamen (Nigeria) | ||
Basu |
Nfaitock |
Ndoyle |
Bebang (Nigeria) | ||
Bajoh |
Eyang |
Dibonda-Mosina |
Ojock (Nigeria) | ||
Nchamba 1 |
Itali |
Debiji (Nigeria) | |||
Mbiyo |
Ipongi |
Owom (Nigeria) | |||
Nfaichang |
Bobange |
Nyaje (Nigeria) | |||
Mbinjong |
Masaka |
||||
Baromba |
|||||
Dienge-Mwangale |
|||||
Mokwalibe |
|||||
Sikan |
|||||
Ayong |
|||||
Selected Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools and techniques were used to collect both qualitative and quantitative information. In each village activities of socio-economic importance, including NWFPs collection, were determined through a Direct Matrix Ranking. The criteria used in this ranking included cash income, household consumption/utilisation, and the estimated number of people within the village carrying out the activities.
The socio-economic rankings were followed by topic-focused interviews with different exploiters of NWFPs: men, women, youths, children and hunters. During these interviews, identified socio-economic activities were classified using the pair-wise ranking technique. The first six income-generating activities were retained for subsequent in-depth discussions with the different groups of NWFP exploiters. In all, four community interviews were conducted (one for each village) and several focus group interviews (at least two in each village) with men, women, youths and children, separately. Discussions were also held with village chiefs, traditional councillors and village socio-cultural and farming groups. A number of income generating activities (subsistence farms, palm-wine tapping, and garri processing) were also visited to appraise their development potential and problems.
Similarly, individual interviews were conducted to collect quantitative information on cash income generated over the last twelve months from a total of 57 individual village people chosen on the basis of availability and willingness to cooperate. Thirty-six percent of those interviewed were women and the rest were men.
The quantitative information collected was analysed using simple mean standard deviation and direct frequency counts.
Table 2 shows that farm, forest, rivers and livestock constitute equally important sources of household incomes to both men and women. The NWFPs that are included in women's income-generating activities are eru (Gnetum spp.), bush mango (Irvingia spp.) and njansang (Ricinodendron heudelotii), while male activities included hunting and trapping along with bush-mango and bush-onion (Afrostyrax spp.) collection. It is evident that NWFPs play an important role in supplementing conventional food supplies, the main household food supply being the farm. NWFPs supplement seasonal shortages in food within these villages, which regularly occur between June and July. Bush-mango, njansang, egusi (pumpkin seeds), bush-onion and bush-pepper (Piper guineensis) are generally added to sauces and soups that accompany staple foods such as plantains, bananas and yam and cassava flour. The fleshy mesocarp of sweet bush-mango (Irvingia gabonensis), is reported to be eaten as a snack by children and women.
A paired-wise ranking of the income-generating sources reported that cocoa is the most important cash-generating activity for men, comparing very closely with hunting and trapping. This qualitative assessment was confirmed by quantitative information obtained from a sample of 37 men. In both cases, fruits (essentially oranges, pineapples and bananas), food-crops and palm wine tapping are insignificant cash-generating activities for men. A substantial proportion of the food produced by both men and women is consumed within the household. NWFPs only accounted for about 6% of male annual cash incomes.
Using the paired-wise ranking technique, the most important cash-generating activity for women was cassava, either transformed (into water-fufu or garri) before sale, or sold directly. This qualitative assessment was again confirmed by data collected from a sample of 20 women selected for individual interviews.
Table 2: Pattern of Income-generating Sources by Gender within some Villages of the Korup Park
ABAT |
BAKEBE |
BANYO |
OTU |
||||
Men |
Women |
Men |
Women |
Men |
Women |
Men |
Women |
FARM |
FARM |
FARM |
FARM |
FARM |
FARM |
FARM |
FARM |
Cocoa |
Cassava |
Cocoa |
Cassava |
Cocoa |
Cassava |
Cocoa |
Cassava |
Coffee |
Cocoyams |
Coffee |
Cocoyams |
Coffee |
Cocoyams |
Plantains |
Cocoyams |
Plantain |
Pepper |
Plantain |
Egusi |
Plantains |
Egusi |
Bananas |
Egusi |
Oranges |
Vegetables |
Yams |
Bananas |
Yams |
Palm-oil |
Yams | |
Beans |
FOREST |
Bananas |
Pepper |
Plantains | |||
FOREST |
Maize |
Tapping |
FOREST |
Vegetables |
FOREST |
Beans | |
Hunting |
Groundnuts |
Hunting |
FOREST |
Tapping |
Beans |
Tapping |
Maize |
Trapping |
Egusi |
Trapping |
Njansan |
Hunting |
Maize |
Hunting |
Vegetables |
Tapping |
Yams |
Fishing |
Eru |
Trapping |
Groundnuts |
Trapping |
Groundnuts |
Fishing |
Bush-mango |
Fishing |
Fishing |
Potatoes |
Fishing |
Pepper | |
Palm-oil |
FOREST |
Bush-onions |
Bush-mango |
Plantains |
Bush-mango |
Okra | |
Bush-mango |
LIVESTOCK |
Timber |
|||||
OFF-FARM |
Njansan |
LIVESTOCK |
LIVESTOCK |
Chickens |
FOREST |
Kola-nuts |
FOREST |
Petty trading |
Eru |
Goats |
Chickens |
Njansang |
Bush-mango | ||
Eru |
LIVESTOCK |
Njansan | |||||
OFF-FARM |
OFF-FARM |
OFF-FARM |
Bush-mango |
Sheep |
Eru | ||
Petty trading |
Petty trading |
Petty trading |
Agkwana |
Goats |
LIVESTOCK | ||
Goats | |||||||
OFF-FARM |
OFF-FARM |
OFF-FARM | |||||
Petty trading |
Petty Trading |
Petty trading |
It should be noted that women sell an important proportion of cassava when it is converted into water-fufu and garri. This is sold in combination with vegetables including eru (Gnetum africanum). Also, much of the bush pepper cultivated by women is used in preparing pepper-soup dishes with wild-game meat and plantains. This makes the sale of food crops and petty trading by women mutually dependent income-earning activities throughout the villages surveyed. As shown in Table 2, NWFPs accounted for about 20% of the annual cash incomes reported by women. The relative positions of the income sources for women were consistent across the villages surveyed.
Table 3 shows that the cash crop, cocoa, is the most popular income-generating activity for about 81% of the men, with a mean annual cash income of CFA 176 859. Hunting and trapping was reported to be an important supplementary income-generating activity to 51% of the men. NWFPs were reported to be popular income-generating activities to 46% of the men, procuring a mean annual cash income of CFA 23 459. Only 32% of the men included in the individual interviews reported earning cash incomes from palm wine tapping, petty trading and coffee.
The sale of food-crops was reported to be a popular income-generating activity to 90% of the women included in the case study sample. Women reported a mean annual cash income of CFA 40 366 from the sale of food crops. This was closely followed by petty trading and NWFPs, from which 70% of the women reported earning annual cash incomes of CFA
34 269. Fifty percent of women's annual cash incomes were reported to come from the sale of vegetables. However, most of the vegetables and food-crops, especially cassava and plantains, are cooked and sold in road-side restaurants. Also, a substantial amount of the food crops cultivated are consumed within households and/or given out as gifts to visitors, less able friends and relatives within and outside the village.
The data presented in Table 3 shows the relative competitiveness of hunting (including trapping) and cocoa production as cash income-generating activities for men. While hunting and trapping were reported to be popular income-generating activities with a mean annual cash income of CFA 163 269, cocoa compares very closely with these activities. It accounts for a mean annual cash income of CFA 176 859 for 8% of the men included in the case study sample. Similarly, the sale of agricultural crops compares very closely with NWFPs and petty trading for women. Considering that wild-game meat constitutes a major trade item in women's income-generating activities, they indirectly tend to encourage the hunting expeditions of men. The variation reported in annual cash earnings from petty trading and NWFPs compared to the variation in cash income from NWFPs suggests that NWFPs (see standard deviations) represent a regular cash income generating activity to the women included in the case study sample.
Across the villages surveyed, no consistent pattern of income generating activities between villages emerged. However, for Abat and Bakebe, hunting and trapping accounted for the highest annual cash income for men. In Banyo and Otu, cocoa production accounted for 39% and 50% of mean annual cash incomes, respectively. The second annual cash income source reported for Banyo was coffee, while hunting and trapping were reported to be the second most important cash income earning source in Otu. Across the villages studied, the least income was earned from fishing, tapping, fruits and the sale of sheep, goats and chickens. It is important to note that most of the palm-wine harvested is not sold, but consumed.
Table 3: Relative importance of income sources
Except for eru and cassava, the peak period for the harvesting of most crops grown by women was reported to be between June and August (Tables 4 and 5). This period corresponds to the peak hunting and trapping period for men. While trapping, some men in Bakebe and Otu reported joining their wives in the collection of bush-mango (Irvingia spp.). Most of these activities are dictated by their seasonal availability, rather than by drops in labour demand for other activities. For example, in the rainy season, men are more preoccupied with trapping because the increased vegetation growth on the forest floor makes it easier to identify regular paths used by animals. Therefore, trapping becomes more profitable at this period of the year, and attracts the attention of many more hunters. Similarly, bush-mango fruits (Irvingia spp.) are more abundant in the rainy season, making collection easier. Also, many women take advantage of this period in order to prevent the fruits from germinating.
There was no clear pattern for the marketing of most women's agricultural produce. However, bush-mango (Irvingia spp.) and njansang (Ricinodendron heudelottii) were marketed generally between October and November. This corresponds to the period when the roads leading into the suburban centres of the support zone are almost impassable. This has a negative effect on the marketing of bush-mango and other NWFPs collected, and therefore on the prices paid to collectors.
The prices of all products sold by women were reported to have been increasing over the past five years. Men reported that coffee and cocoa prices, though fluctuating, have been on the decline. Most, if not all the cocoa, NWFPs and other agricultural products from Otu are either sold in Nigeria or bought by Nigerian traders in the village. The marketing of most NWFPs and agricultural products reflects their seasonal nature. Prices are low at harvesting and tend to increase as supply diminishes. In general, the period between November and January corresponds to a period of boom in the villages included in the survey. This is the period when cocoa, coffee, oranges, bush pepper, njansang and smoked bush-mango (Irvingia spp.) are sold.
These data show that there is virtually no period when a given activity is carried out by inhabitants of the support zone. Rather, men and women carry out a range of activities at different periods of the year and take up other activities when they see that they can make reasonable social or financial gains.
Results of these studies indicate a need to shift the goal of increasing farm income to improving overall household food security. Household food security is ensured from a variety of sources, of which NWFPs are a single component. It is major preoccupation of many households that are located near to protected areas in the forest region of Cameroon. It would be reasonable to adopt food security as an operational goal for conservation and development projects. The basic indicator of success for these projects should not be limited to species or ecosystem protection and increasing the forest's conservation value, but should also include household food security.
Within this framework, a farming systems approach, in which the farm and the household are regarded as interacting social units, is more representative of the reality than the traditional commodity and farmer focus in research and extension intervention. Improvements in NWFP production and marketing are more important strategies in improving overall household livelihood, rather than concentrating on food-specific technologies. Interventions must be broadly based, and aimed at increasing a range of technical options available to forest dwelling/dependent people.
For most households in the forest zone of Cameroon, the links between the different components of a rural environment are not only biological but also social and economic. Thus, when designing interventions for addressing rural communities' technical and social constraints, NWFP's biological, social, and economic roles should all be considered. Adopting a farming system approach to NWFP exploitation enables development agencies to recognise that village-based resources represent different types of social actions and interests that are behind NWFP exploitation.
The implications for policy are that uni-sectoral approaches to household food security for communities around protected areas are insufficient. Households within protected areas ensure food self-sufficiency by generating cash and non-cash incomes from all components of the farming system, including the protected areas. These relationships need to be seriously considered when designing intervention strategies for forest dependent/dwelling households.
Mutuba, T. & V.S. Balinga. 1996. A decade of the Korup National Park. Korup National Park, Mundemba.
Thomas, D.W., J.M. Thomas, W.A. Bromley T.F. & Mbenkum. 1989. Korup Ethnobotanical Survey. Final report to WWF - UK.
Table 4: Calendar of Men's Major Income-generating Activities
Activities |
Peak Period |
Peak Marketing Period |
Common Market Outlets |
Price Movements Over the Past Five Years |
||
Cocoa Production |
September-November |
October-December |
Home |
Decreasing | ||
Coffee Production |
December-February |
January-March |
Home |
Decreasing | ||
Oranges and Pineapples |
October-November |
October-November |
Home |
Stable | ||
Plantains/BananasProduction |
July-September |
July-September |
Home - Village Market |
Increasing | ||
Palm-Wine Tapping |
November-December |
November-December |
Home - Village Market |
Increasing | ||
Palm-oil Production |
September-October |
September-October |
Home - Village Market |
Increasing | ||
Bush-mango Collection |
February-March, June October |
March-May, July October |
Home - Village Market |
Increasing | ||
Fishing |
November-March |
November-March |
Home |
Increasing | ||
Hunting and Trapping |
July-September |
July-September |
Home Forest Village Market |
Increasing | ||
Table 5: Calendar of Women's Activities in the Survey Villages
Activities |
Peak Harvesting, Collection or Gathering Period |
Peak Marketing Period |
Common Market Outlets |
Price Movements Over the Past Five Years |
|
Pepper Production |
June-August |
November-February |
Home Village Market |
Increasing | |
Plantain/BananaProduction |
August-October |
September-October |
Home Village Market |
Increasing | |
Njansang |
August-October |
October-March |
Home Village Market |
Increasing | |
Bush-mango |
June-September February-March |
July-October March-May |
Home Village Market |
Increasing | |
Eru |
Throughout the year, more intensively during holidays |
Throughout the year, more intensively during holidays |
Home Village Market |
Increasing | |
Cocoyam Production |
August-September |
May-June |
Home Village Market |
Increasing | |
Cassava Production |
March-June |
Throughout the year, more intensively after the first rains in March |
Home Village Market |
Increasing | |
Maize Production |
June-September |
June-September |
Home Village Market |
Increasing |
