3.1 Introduction
3.2 The geographical context
3.3 Socio-economic conditions
3.4 Land use
3.5 The socio-economic conditions of the sampled households
3.6 Woodfuel use patterns
The study presented in this report was primarily conducted in the area under the administration of Kundasale Divisional Secretariat, with a sample from the Kandy urban area, which is the capital of Kandy district. The purpose of the urban study was to cover the commercial woodfuel flow or the trading carried out in the urban area, while the Kundasale area was investigated to examine the flow mechanism for domestic use and for rural industries and the gender specific patterns in the activities related to the woodfuel flow.
In the woodfuel flow systems three phenomena are noteworthy. The first is the local flow or the flow for self-consumption, primarily for home consumption. The second is the internal flow or the commercial flow of fuelwood to rural industries. The third is the interregional commercial woodfuel flow from outside areas to the urban area where redistribution also commences.
The area under Kundasale Divisional Secretariat extends approximately over 83.2 square kilometres. It is one of the secretariats of Kandy district (Figure 5). Biophysically it is located in the central highlands of the country. According to previous investigations (i.e. Howes, 1995) the overall fuelwood production of the Kandy district is much lower than the consumption, so it has been marked as a biomass deficit area. However, according to the projections given in the FSMP for 1995 and 2020 bio energy will not be scarce in the Kandy district. The flow of fuelwood to Kandy urban area takes place from other areas, particularly from rubber-wood producing areas of the southwest wet zone, and includes forest-wood from the north central and eastern dry zone areas.
Although there are some small towns associated with service centres within Kundasale, the area is predominantly rural. Kundasale has one main draw back: its annual rainfall is comparatively low, and is often in the range of 1015 mm and 1800 mm. As a result, the area is characterised by Intermediate Zone climatic conditions, low and irregular rainfall, and is often marked with water scarcities. It is primarily composed of an undulating terrain within which the elevation varies between 420-780 metres and goes up to about 780 metres towards the north-east.
The area comprises about 203 traditional villages and is divided into 80 Grama Niladari Divisions which, according to the administrative structure of the country, are the lower level administrative units. Its total population in 1992 was about 86,420. The area is located on the outskirts of Kandy urban area, within a distance of about 12 kilometres (See Figure 6). This location has resulted in it having efficient communication and infrastructure.
According to published statistics of 1981, poverty is a prominent feature of the socio-economic life of the area and nearly 68% of the population received free food subsidies and about 58% of the working age population (between 15-55 years) were unemployed. Another noteworthy feature is the relatively low proportion (only 25%) of employed persons in the agriculture sector. Meanwhile, the proportion in non-agricultural production related activities was about 39%. No stretches of forests are located in the area other than narrow stretches of riverine vegetation.
Figure 5: Location of Kandy District and Kundasale Division
Figure 6: Geographical location of Kandy and Kundasale area
Land use in the area is complex due to the predominance of species-mixed production systems. Of the total land area of 8,320 hectares the most widespread land use type is homegardens which account for approximately 41% of the area. (see Figure 7). Mixed trees and other crops, paddy, and perennials are also noteworthy (see Table 7). The mixed stands of trees consist of coconut (Cocas nucifera), jak (Artocarpus heterophyllus), mango (Mangifera indica), avocado (Persea gratissima), cocoa (Theobroma cacao), coffee (Coffea arabica), nutmeg (Myristica fragrans), pepper (Piper nigrum), cloves (Syzygium aromaticum) etc. These stands are rich in terms of their standing timber stocks and have a high potential to produce fuelwood as a by-product. This overall picture suggests there is no problem related to the local availability of woodfuel even though ownership and access to production systems are important parameters deciding the availability for end users and their use. In such circumstances, whether or not the commercial flow mechanisms are operating locally between Kundasale area and the Kandy urban area, the flow of woodfuel from local production systems to the heavy consumers like industries and commercial users is of considerable research importance.
TABLE 7: LAND USE IN KUNDASALE AREA
|
Land use type |
% of area |
|
Perennial |
11 |
|
Homegardens |
41 |
|
Other crops |
4 |
|
Paddy |
14 |
|
Mixed (tree and other) |
15 |
|
Tea |
5 |
|
Coconut |
9 |
|
Built up land |
1 |
|
TOTAL |
100 |
Source: Wickramasinghe, 1989
One striking feature noted in the reconnaissance survey, which influenced the selection of Kundasale as the site to study woodfuel flow is that woodfuel-based industries are widespread. The area around Menikhinna, which is the divisional administrative centre of Kundasale, and Digana area are marked with numerous wood-energy based industries as well as saw mills. Industries include the lime industry, brick industry, pottery, bakeries, and treacle and jaggery making at household level. The hotels and bakeries located in the junctions, villages and other road corners depend on commercial woodfuel for energy.
The widespread location of saw mills in the Kundasale area (there are about 12) is a striking feature. Saw mills act as a source of woodfuel supply for local industries and some domestic consumers. Although no formal mechanisms exist the commercial woodfuel flow in this rural setting is dominated by the woodfuel supply from sawmills and by the supplies from local producers like households with relatively large homegarden plots.
Figure 7: The land use types in Kundasale area
In order to collect primary data pertaining to the activities in the woodfuel flow system and how these are allocated by gender, 7 villages located in the Kundasale Divisional Secretariat were selected (see Figure 8). These villages are:
i. Pitawala;
ii. Udagama;
iii. Rajawella;
iv. Gomagoda;
v. Narampanawa;
vi. Panwila;
vii. Gunnepana.
These 7 villages were selected subjectively. The special features taken into consideration include:
i) representativeness of the types of local land use; location of non-household sectoral fuelwood consumers such as industries and commercial users which tend to influence the flow patterns and market mechanisms;iii) location in proximity to Kandy urban area and the Menikhinna local service centre (see Table 8 for comparative information).
The approximate distance from Menikhinna (divisional centre) to Kandy is in the range of 6-14 kilometres. However, it was decided to concentrate on these 7 villages to avoid any practical difficulties pertaining to completing the research project within the scheduled period and financial and other resource limits. The selected villages were able to represent situations related to industries and the household sector primarily depending on homegarden and local supplies.
Fifteen households were selected randomly from each village and the total number of household units covered in the survey was 105. The average size of a unit is about 4.8 persons. One striking feature here is that the female population outnumbers the male population with 117 females to 100 males. The second striking feature is that in spite of the high female population, the proportion of women in employment is extremely low. The employment ratio is 32 women to 100 men; 18 women to 100 men in agriculture, and 34 to 100 in non-agriculture sectoral employment. The third feature is that, only a few households have agricultural production units other than homegardens (see Table 9 for details).
One of the key features noted in the household survey is that the houses are composed of 3 or more units. These include, living section, bedroom/s, and a kitchen. This suggests that no households covered in this survey live in houses having extremely poor conditions. The data given in Table 10 reveals that of the total of 105 households surveyed, nearly 85% of houses are solid constructions, while 15 percent are of wattle and daub walls and mud spread floors. 37% of the kitchens are poor structures and 17% are separated from the main house. When compared with the conditions of the main house unit with kitchen, relatively poor conditions have been noted.
In terms of hearth type and facilities for relieving kitchen smoke further variations have been noted. Only 53% of the households have a kitchen chimney to relieve smoke. Kitchen smoke can be taken as an indication of the problems faced by women during food preparation. Enumerations revealed that the per capita consumption of fuelwood for domestic cooking in the range of 1.3 -1.8 kilograms per day, and, if available, crop residues are also added.
Although this seems to be high a substantial amount of fuelwood is needed for the preparation of 3 cooked meals, and to boil water about 6 times a day. A comparison was not done regarding the impact of hearth type on wood consumption, due to the use of 3 stone hearths when needed by all households. The most widely used hearth type is the 3 stone hearth, and mud spread hearths which have one open area to feed wood are also popular. Only 12% of the households use improved wood stoves, but together with a 3 stone hearth.
Gathering fuelwood to meet household needs has been reported as heavy work, because women at least gather fuelwood 2-3 times per week. When they carry fuelwood from outside sources they tend to carry excessively heavy headloads. Measurements show that the weight of a bundle of fuelwood is in the range of 24-30 kilograms. As fuelwood is used by all the surveyed households no women are exempted from this task.
While the average monthly income of households is in the range of Rs. 1,500.00 -25,000.00, there are a couple of very wealthy households whose monthly incomes are about Rs. 25,000.00. Among the 7 villages, Pitawala, Rajawella and Gomagoda reported a high average monthly income of more than 6,000 rupees; the figure for Udagama, Narampanawa and Gunnepana was more than Rs. 5,000, while for Panwila the figure was the lowest at about Rs. 3,600 per month.
All 105 households reported that they depend heavily on fuelwood as a source of cooking energy. Nearly 22 households purchase a part of the amount needed for cooking. Of the total, 83 are completely dependent on free gathering. Free gathering is a complex phenomenon. It points to the practice of gathering biomass from whatever production sources are available within an accessible distance, including homegardens, fences and hedges where the end users do not pay cash for fuelwood. They pay neither for labour, nor any fee to the producer/supply source. The faulty assumption behind this is that no labour costs and production costs are involved. The collection of branchwood for fuelwood without any cost tends to exclude the production cost. The non-engagement of paid labour avoids the labour cost. This suggests that fuelwood is only a by-product of trees grown for other purposes, including timber. In reality, even though fuelwood is reported as a freely gathered commodity, the converted labour time cost is in the range of Rs. 1.50 - 2.50 per 1 kg of fuelwood carried in headloads. When compared with the price paid for commercial wood, which is about Rs. 2.20 - 2.40 per kilogram in the Kandy urban area, free gathering implies a substantial saving of family expenditure. The price in the urban market includes payments for production, transportation and processing. Thus the hidden costs of freely gathered wood and the extent to which these are incurred by women are significant.
The average amounts spent on fuelwood in the household sector vary tremendously. The variations are due to local availability and seasonality, time and labour availability to gather etc. The average sum paid by the households during the period of the field investigation was in the range of Rs. 225.00 - 75.00 per month except in one village, Gomagoda, where all the requirements are met by freely procured fuelwood (see Table 11). The field data reveal that:
i. Even in the rural areas some households rely on the commercial flow of fuelwood;ii. Although rural consumers depend solely on woodfuel, it is not composed of one single type. More than 75% is composed of real wood and the remainder is composed of residues (see Table 11);
iii. Most of the supplementary types/substitutes for real wood in the rural domestic sector come from coconut palms. It includes mainly coconut leaves, fronds, and husks. The total number of households partly dependent on coconut palm output is 44, of which the majority reported that they regularly use coconut husk (44), while 33 mentioned their use of fronds and leaves.
In terms of biomass energy security, rural households are in a better position to withstand acute problems because they locally produce the biomass. But the 22% of the households which purchase part of their requirements revealed that informal trade operates at a low profile in the domestic sector, even in rural areas where homegardens are widespread, although the trade is occasional and irregular.
This suggests that the woodfuel flow mechanism includes two spheres. The first comprises the flow for self-consumption, mainly for domestic cooking. This is dominated by noncommercial flow patterns involving multiple supply sources. The non-commercial woodfuel flow takes place within a narrow geographical area and all the related activities tend to take place over relatively short periods of time. In the commercial flow most of the activities prior to the market flow take place elsewhere or are under the control of different intermediaries.
TABLE 8. SPECIAL FACTORS TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION WHEN SELECTING THE VILLAGES
|
Village |
Distance to Kandy (km) |
Distance to local centre (Menikhinna) |
Concentration of dense homegardens |
Other relevant land use |
Wood energy based industries located in the area |
|
Pitawala |
12 |
1 |
moderate |
- |
lime |
|
Udagama |
14 |
2 |
moderate |
- |
- |
|
Rajawella |
10 |
4 |
low |
coconut |
lime |
|
Gomagoda |
14 |
5 |
high |
- |
treacle & jaggery |
|
Narampanawa |
16 |
7 |
high |
- |
treacle & jaggery |
|
Gunnepana |
6 |
6 |
moderate |
- |
brick |
|
Panwila |
10 |
6-6.5 |
low |
tea |
brick |
SOURCE: FEILD SURVEY, 1996-1999
FIGURE 8: LOCATION OF FUELWOOD DEPOTS IN KANDY URBAN AREA AND THE ROADS FROM THE OUTSKIRTS TABLE
TABLE 9: SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF THE SAMPLED HOUSEHOLDS OF 7 VILLAGES IN KUNDASALE AREA
TABLE 11: THE COMPOSITION AND USE OF WOODFUEL IN THE DOMESTIC SECTOR
Women gather free woodfuel for self-consumption (A.W.)
Splitting wood for fuel is a man's responsibility (A.W.)
