Greener Journal of Agronomy, Forestry and Horticulture Vol. 5 (1), pp. 001-011, January 2018.
ISSN: 2354-2306 © 2018 Greener Journals
Research Paper
Manuscript Number: 122617183
(DOI: http://doi.org/10.15580/GJAFH.2018.1.122617183)
Community forest use and dependence for livelihoods in Fako Division, South West Region of Cameroon
Fru Delvis Ngang1*, Asongwe Godswill Azinwie1,
Asong Valentine Tellen1 and Che Loveline Nchang1
1Pan African Institute for Development - West Africa (PAID-WA) Buea, Cameroon.
Abstract
This study assessed the extent,
patterns and socio-demographic determinants of community forest use and
dependence for livelihood in three community forests areas in Fako Division,
Cameroon. The data, collected principally through a questionnaire administered
to 295 selected community members, was analyzed using descriptive and
inferential statistics with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Science
20. The study found that most (61.3%) of the respondents directly use the
community forest, principally for fuelwood collection (89.4%), NTFPs harvesting
(41.3%), subsistence farming (40%) and timber exploitation (25.7%). Community
forest use was significantly predicted by user’s location (p=0.039), gender (p=0.011), primary
occupation (p=0.00), level of
education (p=0.00), income level (p=0.023), origin (p=0.010) and membership in Community Forest Management Group (p=0.025).
Furthermore, it was observed that most (53.1%) of the forest users
depended on the forest for 61-100% of their household food, energy and material
needs while the sales of forest resources accounted for 61-100% of the monthly
income of 57.9% others. The study concluded that community forest resources make up a considerable portion of the
livelihood portfolio of many forest-fringe households in the area and
recommended among other things improvements in the current land tenure policy to enable local stakeholders to fully embrace
participatory forestry and the training of forest users on value adding activities to enhance returns from the
commercialization of forest products
Keywords: Community forest; Forest Use; Forest Dependence; Livelihoods
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