International Forestry Review Vol.14(3), 2012 363

Rural enterprise development for poverty alleviation based on non-wood forest products in Central AfricaJ.C. TIEGUHONG1, O. NDOYE2, S. GROUWELS3, W.A. MALA4 and J.L.BETTI5

1Bioversity International, P.O. Box 2008 Messa, Yaoundé, Cameroon2FAO-NWFP, P.O. Box 281 Yaoundé, Cameroon 3FAO, Department of Forestry, Rome, Italy4SNV, P.O. Box, 16096, Yaoundé, Cameroon5University of Douala, P.O. Box 24157, Douala, Cameroon

Email: j.tieguhong@cgiar.org

SUMMARY

Using the Market Analysis and Development approach to generate the results presented in this paper, it was found that rural communities prefer certain NWFP for increasing their incomes in central Africa. Four enterprise development factors including market/economic, social, environmental and technological considerations were useful criteria for the NWFP selection process. 14 local non-governmental organisations were trained on enterprise development modules that further trained 233 groups with a total membership of 3515 people in 87 villages. Significant variation was observed between countries in terms of total membership and the number of women engaged per group. It was suggested that the promotion of NWFPs through small-scale enterprise development could form an important entry point for poverty alleviation and food security in Central African villages.

Keywords: Congo Basin, Market Analysis and Development, non-wood forest products, local preferences, small-scale forestry

Développement de l’entrepreneuriat rural en Afrique Centrale pour réduire la pauvreté à travers les produits forestiers non ligneux

J.C. TIEGUHONG, O. NDOYE, S. GROUWELS, W.A. MALA et J.L.BETTI

Ce papier, qui utilise l’approche Analyse et Développement des Marchés (ADM), révèle que les communautés rurales d’Afrique Centrale préfèrent certains produits forestiers non ligneux (PFNL) pour augmenter leurs revenus. Quatre critères de développement d’entreprise se focalisant sur le marché/l’économie, le social, l’environnement et la technologie ont été déterminants dans le choix des PFNL retenus. Quatorze Organisations Non Gouvernementales (ONG) locales formées dans le développement entrepreneurial ont à leur tour renforcé les capacités de 233 groupements comprenant 3515 membres issus de 87 villages. Une différence significative a été observée entre les pays par rapport au nombre total de membres par groupement et au nombre total de femmes appartenant à chaque groupement. Le papier suggère que la promotion des PFNL à travers le développement des petites et moyennes entreprises forestières pourrait constituer une importante porte d’entrée pour la réduction de la pauvreté et le renforcement de la sécurité alimentaire en Afrique Centrale.

Desarrollo rural de las empresas para reducir la pobreza basadas en productos forestales no madereros en África Central

J.C. TIEGUHONG, O. NDOYE, S. GROUWELS, W.A. MALA y J.L.BETTI

Utilizando la metodología de formación Análisis y Desarrollo de Mercado para generar los resultados presentados en este trabajo, se encontró que las comunidades rurales prefieren algunos PFNM para aumentar sus ingresos en África Central. Cuatro factores de desarrollo empresarial incluyendo mercado/económico, social, ambiental y tecnológico fueron criterios útiles para el proceso de selección de los PFNM. Fueron capacitadas en los módulos de desarrollo empresarial 14 Organizaciones no gubernamentales locales quienes más adelante capacitaron a 233 grupos, con un total de 3515 personas en 87 aldeas. Se observó una variación significativa entre los países en cuanto al número total de miembros y el número de mujeres involucradas por grupo. Se sugirió que la promoción de los productos forestales no madereros, a través del desarrollo de las micro y pequeñas empresas, podrían formar un punto de entrada importante para la reducción de la pobreza y la seguridad alimentaria en los pueblos de África Central.

364 J.C. Tieguhong et al.

forest enterprises (FAO 2011). Therefore, the paper presents the findings resulting from the use of MA&D approach in promotion rural enterprises and draw lessons for the develop-ment of small-scale enterprises of NWFP in Cameroon and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and largely in Central Africa. In this paper, the definition of NWFP by Falconer (1994) is adopted; defined as forest resources that provide subsistence goods and services as well as items of trade, excluding timber, including such diverse products as bark, roots, tubers, corms, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, sap, resins, honey and fungi. Small and medium scale forest enterprises (SMFE) involved in the NWFP sector are understood as enterprises employing less than 60 persons mostly on a temporary basis with access to business proceeds usually based on individual input and annual turnover oscillating between US$ 500 and US$ 30000 (Tieguhong et al. 2012). This definition excludes SMFEs involved in the timber sector as well as larger well-established enterprises with capital out-lays of over US$ 30000 that can easily gain access to credit from banks in the region, especially in Cameroon.

Indeed, the findings provided in this paper form part of a fifty-four months multi-partnership project dubbed ‘Mobili-sation and capacity building of small and medium scale enter-prises involved in the NWFP sector’, conducted between 2007 and 2011 in Cameroon and DRC. The project was aimed at mobilising and building capacities of small and medium forest enterprises (SMFE) involved in the value chains of non-wood forest products (NWFP) in Central Africa. The goal of the project was to significantly contribute to poverty reduction in rural areas by increasing revenues while ensuring the sustainable management of the resource base in the two pilot countries. The project was funded by the European Union and implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organi-sation of the United Nations (FAO) and its partners, the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV), under the overall patron-age of the Central African Forestry Commission (COMIFAC). The four specific objectives of the project were: (1) Capacity building of SMFE in seven sites (four in Cameroon and three in DRC); (2) Develop the value chains of priority NWFP to increase the profits of actors in a more equitable market environment; (3) Improve the sustainable management of the products through the promotion of better harvesting tech-niques and domestication; and (4) Improve the legal and insti-tutional frameworks governing the NWFP sector in Central Africa (Tieguhong et al. 2010a). In this paper the first and second objectives are addressed in relation to how capacities were built and what factors influenced the selection and development of values chains of certain NWFP in lieu of others.

Looking at NWFP as a purveyor of poverty alleviation for rural populations with access to forest resources, empirical research shows that the valorisation of NWFP can enable them to improve their economic well-being leading to overall poverty reduction (Tieguhong et al. 2010b, Macqueen and Morrison 2008, Kozak 2007, Spantigati and Springfors 2005).

INTRODUCTION

Since the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in 2000, progress towards poverty reduction has been skewed against rural people in many developing countries with over 800 million people still living on less that US$1 per day (FIDA 2005). This is particularly true for forest depend-ent households in the central African sub-region, where some countries still have an annual per capita income of less than US$ 200. This outcome may be termed a global failure despite several actions already taken by various governments and development organisations. From this perspective, one may ponder whether it is possible to go beyond failure. How-ever, for households with access to forest resources, empirical research shows that the valorisation of non wood forest prod-ucts (NWFP) can enable households and small and medium scale forest enterprises (SMFE) to improve their economic well-being leading to overall poverty reduction (Iranbakhsh et al. 2009, Warner 2007, Mayers 2006, Mithofer et al. 2006, Ambrose-Oji 2003, May et al. 2003, Brubaker 1999, Moham-med 1999, Arnold and Ruiz-Perez 1998, Davidson-Hunt 1998, Higgins 1998). During periods of economic crisis, NWFPs form a niche for employment, income and well being in rural areas of the humid forest zone of in central Africa (Tieguhong et al. 2009a, Tieguhong and Ndoye 2006), thus, providing important safety nets when other economic oppor-tunities are no longer feasible (Belcher et al. 2005, Arnold and Ruiz-Perez 1998). According to Shreckenberg (2003), NWFP are very important for households in central Africa during lean seasons when households have limited access to food crops. Aside from crisis periods, NWFP are important for the daily livelihoods of people adjoining protected areas in the region. For example, villagers around most National Parks in the Southwest and East Regions of Cameroon earn 25–50% of the household income from the sale of NWFPs such as Irvingia spp., Ricinodendron heudelotti and bushmeat (Tieguhong et al. 2009a, Sandker et al. 2009, Ndoye and Tieguhong 2004, Ndoye et al. 2007). However, harvesting forest products to reduce poverty can be hindered by several factors including poor management skills, lack of access to credit, exploitation of harvesters by buyers, poor market information, poor organisation, and absence of a favourable policy and legal frameworks (Nair 2007, Ames 1998, Parker and Torres 1994).

Addressing these issues have been made through several approaches and interventions but a general agreement is that the development of small and medium-scale enterprises requires the redress of not only legal, financial, organisational and institutional factors, but most importantly methodologi-cal issues (FAO 2011, Macqueen et al. 2009, Kambewa and Utila 2008, Macqueen 2007, Hill et al. 2007, Molnar et al. 2007). Cogent methodological issues in rural settings include the systematic inclusion of social and environmental concerns alongside the consideration of technological, commercial and financial aspects of a product (FAO 2011). This product oriented development strategy gives the market analysis and development (MA&D) approach an edge over other development methods related to small and medium scale

Rural enterprise development for poverty alleviation 365

In this light, the value of NWFP harvested can be used as an indicator of the sector’s contribution to poverty alleviation because most SMFEs are connected to NWFP that are quite often collected by relatively poor people living in remote rural areas (Carr 2007, Donovan et al. 2006, Mendes and Macqueen 2006). Nonetheless, other theorists argue that the potential of NWFP to alleviate poverty among the rural poor can only be fully developed when functioning value chains are in place (Carr 2007, Macqueen 2007, Warner 2007). Indeed, many organisations working in tropical rainforests have promoted the sustainable extraction of NWFP by local people as a way to enable them benefit from biodiversity, as well as, motivate them to conserve it for the dual ends of supporting conservation and local livelihoods (Belcher et al. 2005, Sunderlin et al. 2005, Shreckenberg 2003, Arnold & Townson 1998). For instance, in India where some recent estimates exist, NWFP accounts for about 68% of the export in forestry sector and supports the annual incomes of about 275 million people to the tune of 20 to 40% (Bhattacharya and Hayat 2009). In conformity, the Commission for Africa (2005) reiterated that poverty reduction through growth requires a focus on the indigenous private sector, which in Africa is composed of a myriad of micro, small and medium enter-prises, including those involved in the gathering and selling of NWFP in forested regions. In this paper, issues related to production, economic/markets, social/institutional and organ-isational aspects of the development of SMFE based on NWFP in selected communities in two pilot countries in the Central Africa are examined.

METHODOLOGY

Site description: brief overview of forest sector in DRC and Cameroon

The Congo Basin has about 162 million ha of dense forests with about 79% in the DRC and Cameroon, pilot countries for the European Union funded project. The Cameroon govern-ment’s strategy for forest use is set out in the 1994 Forestry Law with more explicit elaboration in the Forest and Environ-mental Sector Plan (PSFE). Cameroon’s forest sector strategy gives priority to poverty reduction as formulated in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, which in turn is linked to the Millennium Development Goals. The DRC alone possess 61% of the dense forest in the region amounting to about 91 million ha (COMIFAC 2008, de Wasseige et al. 2009). Five forest cover categories are found in these countries but the most dominant is the lowland dense forest with nearly 142 million ha representing 88% of the five forest cover types and the less dominant is the mangrove with 192,618 ha. The DRC adopted a new forest code in 2002, with the community forest component being taken into account based on the lessons learned from other countries in Central Africa.

Sampling

From the perspective of pilot project implementation, the selection of the two pilot countries to represent the central

African region was strategic because of available preliminary data on NWFP in Cameroon and the high potential of NWFP exploitation in DRC, given its huge forest cover. Moreover, these two countries contain 89% of the total population of the six countries in the Congo Basin with relatively high eco-nomically active population of 55% and 61% in Cameroon and DRC respectively. Rural population remain very high in the two countries at 68% and 48% in DRC and Cameroon respectively, a quest for integrated rural poverty alleviation strategy. The study was conducted in limited parts of these countries based on the availability data on the production of NWFP, accessibility of the areas and the presence of a high population of people involved on NWFP production and commercialisation. Work in the different parts of the two countries was facilitated by local non-governmental organisa-tions (NGO). Their selection was based on their involvement in NWFP activities in terms of training and capacity building of community based organisations, the length of time and experience of working with local groups and their willingness to assist in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of enterprise development plans.

RESEARCH APPROACH

The MA&D approach was the main methodology used including the participatory evaluation of the implementation of enterprise development plans (EDPs). Its goal is to assist community based organizations and other stakeholders in developing income-generating enterprises while managing their natural resources in sustainable way. It systematically includes social and environmental concerns alongside the consideration of technological, commercial and financial aspects of a product (FAO 2011). It therefore enables people to identify potential products and develop markets that will provide income and benefits without degrading their resource base (Tieguhong et al. 2010b, Isranbakhsh et al. 2009, Hill et al. 2007, Kozak 2007, Macqueen 2007, Kazoora et al. 2006, Ledecq et al. 2006, Lewis et al. 2004). To this, oppor-tunities for reconciling resource conservation and the fight against poverty through capacity building of small forestry enterprises is enhanced (Macqueen et al. 2009). The MA&D approach is conducted in four phases and each of which is divided into a series of steps (FAO, 2011). Information provided by this paper resulted from the conduct of the first three phases. This involved the selection of NWFP with market potentials, the selection of villages and the selection of beneficiary groups within villages. NWFP selection was by literature review on their market values while the selection of communities followed the methodology used in Mexico and Bolivia by Marshall et al. (2003). This involves asking local facilitating NGOs to suggest villages where the selected NWFP are found. The project team pre-selects, at least, two production villages per NWFP on the basis of socio-economic attributes (market access, access to resource, popu-lation size, social homogeneity etc). Consultation meetings are held in the pre-selected villages to discuss on information

366 J.C. Tieguhong et al.

plant NWFP, preferences, benefits to members, collective action and group dynamics. All these thematic areas of inter-vention were geared at ways of improving opportunities and capacities for disadvantaged, rural producers to produce competitive products that are distinguishable from those of large scale industries as well as linking them to financial institutions and ethical consumers. After cross-checking the data, summary tables were constructed followed by multi-criteria analysis. Lessons learned were drawn and some recommendations formulated.

RESULTS

Product selection

In the DRC, 22, 30, and 56 NWFPs were inventoried in Phase I in the provinces of Kinshasa, Bas Congo and Equateur. At the end of Phase II, only 9%, 10% and 11% of the products respectively were selected. In Cameroon, 12, 13, and 53 NWFPs were inventoried in Phase I but 42%, 77% and 25% respectively were selected in Phase II (Figure 1).

Scores given to various products varied from 20% to 100% with a mean of 58% (SD=28%) in Cameroon and 57% (SD=30%) in DRC. The MA&D approach facilitated the selection of key NWFPs including honey, bush mango (Irvingia spp.), Prunus africana and gum Arabic (Acacia spp.) in Cameroon and honey, safou (Dacryodes edulis) and fumbwa (Gnetum spp.) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (RDC). It also allowed for the selection of other NWFPs with the dual potential of reducing poverty and conserving forest resources (Table 2).

The final selection of the most promising NWFP for the establishment and development of enterprises was based on four enterprise development factors including market/economic, social, environmental and technological consider-ations (Table 3).

Statistically significant differences were observed among the criteria for selecting NWFP at the 5% level. Scores varied from a minimum of 20% to a maximum of 100% with mean of 56.9% (SD=29.8%). A multiple comparison test showed that the most important criteria for selecting NWFP by the producers were the market/economy and the management of

needs and on how the project might help them. This aims at gauging their willingness to participate in the research. Final selection of villages is done by the project team based on the village-meeting reports.

The selection of beneficiary groups through the MA&D approach involved participatory and iterative processes and tools to ensure equal opportunities for the participation of all sections of the project target group. Target group identifica-tion started at a wider scale with the participation of all villages interested in NWFP enterprise development. This process leads to the voluntary withdrawal of some villagers and only those interested in forming groups with clear economic objectives of developing enterprises in given products are retained for further training. Thus, the main result obtained in phase 1 was a list of all NWFP that would be evaluated in the second phase, interested groups and members for each product (FAO 2011).

With the support of the project facilitators, potential entre-preneurs carried out further analysis during phase 2, including an assessment of their own interest, capacity and skills for NWFP business development. From this process, 233 poten-tial interest groups of entrepreneurs totalling 3515 members in 87 villages were formed in Phase 2. Important to recall is that the selection of final products took into account the attributes of four enterprise development criteria (economic, environment, social and technological) (Table 1). Scores on main criteria and sub-criteria for selecting products vary from 20% (indicating the criteria was not very important for the product) to 100% (indicating very high importance).

Phase three involves a series of workshops in targeted communities aimed at developing enterprise development plans (EDPs) for groups identified during phase II. This involves the provision of technical assistance (training work-shops) to groups on the acquisition of legal status/framework for their groups/enterprises, development, restitution and/or finalisation of the elaboration of EDPs. It also involves the participatory establishment of enterprise action plans to enable groups implement their EDPs for the chosen products in targeted markets (FAO 2011).

Throughout the three phases of the implementation of the MA&D approach in the study sites, the researchers were kin on collecting data on market access for products, financial sources, negotiation skills, leadership skills, willingness to

TABLE 1 Factors and attributes used in the assessment of the potentials of products for small business development

Factors Attributes

Environmental/management

Spatial availability, seasonal availability, rotation from planting to harvest, impact of harvest on environment, impact of harvest on resource, species regeneration potentials

Market/economic Competition with other products in the market, the level of demand, availability of raw material, obstacles or barrier to access products, marketing potentials and quantity of product

Science and Technology Adaptability of rural entrepreneurs to transformation techniques, adaptability of site to transformation technique, State of infrastructure, availability of human resources, expertise of labour

Social/institutional Direct benefits to communities, contribution to household revenue, contribution to employment, involvement with production, gender impacts, scale of consumption

Rural enterprise development for poverty alleviation 367

FIGURE 1 Number of NWFP inventoried and selected in Phases I and II of Market Analysis and Development (MA&D)

the resources/environment. Social/institutional factors were the second most important followed by factors of science and technology (Figure 2). Between-country variation in the criteria for selecting NWFP was not significant, at a 5% level (F=3.752; α=0.053).

Building capacity through training

In six of the seven project sites in Cameroon and DRC, 14 local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were trained on enterprise development modules (six in Cameroon and eight in DRC) using the Market Analysis and Development (MA&D) approach. The trained NGOs further trained community groups in 87 villages (Table 4).

The number of groups trained per village varied from 1–10 (Mean=2.63; SD=1.73), totalling 233 groups (83 in Cameroon and 150 in DRC). These groups had a total mem-bership of 3515 people (1126 in Cameroon and 2389 people in DRC) with membership ranging from 7–150 persons/group (mean=4.04 persons; SD=30.35 persons) (Table 4). However, significant variation was observed among countries in terms of total membership and the number of women engaged per group. An Anova test showed that the total number of groups and the total number of women per group varied significantly between the countries (P<0.05) with more women per group in Cameroon than in DRC (Figure 3).

The overall total number of members per group and total males per group did not vary significantly between the countries (Table 5).

An analysis of the distribution of groups by types of NWFP showed that both in Cameroon and DRC, each group was interested in developing the value chain of one or more NWFP. A cross-table analysis between groups within regions and the NWFP of interest showed that for the 83 interest groups in Cameroon, 56%, 34% and 10% were in the North-west, Extreme North and North regions respectively. For DRC, among the 150 NWFP interest groups, 42%, 37%, 13% and 8% were respectively in the provinces of Bas Congo, Equateur, Kinshasa/Kisantu and Kinshasa/Mbanza Ngungu. Categorising interest groups by specific NWFP showed that in Cameroon, 25%, 22%, 18% and 8% of the groups were interested in neem oil (Azadirachta indica), bushmango (Ir-vingia spp.), voacanga (Voacanga africana) and honey respectively while the remaining 17% of groups were interested in other NWFP such as Djansang (Ricinodendron heudelotii), leaves of baobab (Adansonia digitata) and bala-nites (Balanites aegyptiaca), and shea butter from (Vitellaria paradoxa). In DRC, honey and Gnetum spp. each commande d the interest of 30% of the 150 interest groups while safou (Dacryodes edulis) and thatch were of interest to 19% and 9% respectively. The remaining 12% of the interest groups were vastly interested in other NWFP such as rattan, caterpillar and

368 J.C. Tieguhong et al.

TABLE 2 Characteristics of scoring (%) exercise by product and by country

Country Product N Mean Std

Cameroon Oil/shea butter (Vitellaria paradoxa) 112 58.75 29.69

Bush onion 33 67.27 25.41

Bush mango (Irvingia spp.) 33 47.88 29.13

Cafe Quinkilibat 15 61.33 27.74

Djansang (Ricinodendron heudelotii) 34 57.06 32.71

Leaves of balanites (Balanites aegyptiaca) 83 49.88 24.47

Leave/powder of Baobab (Adansonia digitata) 83 50.84 22.37

Fruit of anacarde (Anacardium accidental) 17 60.00 30.82

Fruit/Juice of Baobab (Adansonia digitata) 66 49.39 23.59

Fruit/Jus of tamarin (Tamarindus indica) 82 47.56 21.69

Gensing 21 57.14 31.17

Desert dates 45 64.44 29.81

Honey 84 66.67 28.17

Neem oil (Azadirachta indica) 110 65.82 30.81

Jatropha 63 48.57 27.99

Voacanga africana 105 71.24 29.08

Total 1 986 58.07 28.58

DRC Caterpillars 60 59.67 31.35

Gnetum spp. 200 62.70 31.75

Honey 140 53.86 30.71

Kola (Cola spp.) 20 54.00 35.00

Thatch 60 44.67 29.31

Raphia 96 57.00 28.49

Rattan 40 67.50 29.24

Safou (Dacryodes edulis) 58 52.07 28.02

Total 2 674 55.19 31.38

Total 1660 56.90 29.78

marathaceae leaves. Honey was the only product identified to be of interest to groups in both Cameroon and DRC (Table 6).

With regards to the support for realising enterprise devel-opment plans, a total of 63 and 88 plans were finalised for groups in Cameroon and DRC respectively. These were pilot enterprises owned by enthusiastic groups trying to implement their business plans amid the lack of start-up capital. These groups are in search of market opportunities and financial supports to enable them fully implement their EDPs. How-ever, they face difficulties in accessing micro-credits in finan-cial institutions due to lack of collaterals and surety on how to timely paying back loans. With regards to the support for realising enterprise development plans (EDPs), direct finan-cial contribution by the project to meet the financing gaps of groups was recommended. Established enterprises with EDPs were observed to have higher level of organisation,

epitomised by group sales and higher profits measuring up to 35% more than those without such plans. These preliminary results from the MA&D approach suggest great prospects for the development of rural entrepreneurship especially consis-tent monitoring and sustainable supports. However, this potential may not be achieved under a single project time-frame of three years, a quest for longer project durations of five years and above. Up scaling the approach as a govern-ment intervention may provide more sustainable impacts over longer timeframes.

DISCUSSION

In recent years, many authors have confirmed that NWFP have attracted the attention of politicians, entrepreneurs, eco-nomic development agencies, and community development

Rural enterprise development for poverty alleviation 369

TABLE 3 Characteristics of criteria and variables for non-wood forest products selection

Criteria Variable N Min. Max. Mean Std

Resources manage-ment/Environment

Spatial availability 91 20 100 70.11 25.71

Seasonal availability 90 20 100 70.00 24.22

Rotation from planting to harvest 14 60 100 80.00 15.69

Impact of harvest on environment 91 20 100 73.41 29.37

Impact of harvest on resource 74 20 100 64.05 27.69

Species regeneration potentials 88 20 100 68.64 26.40

Total 1 448 20 100 69.78 26.52

Market/Economy Competition 68 20 100 70.29 28.81

Demand 51 20 100 80.00 24.33

Raw material availability 14 60 100 84.29 17.85

Profit margins 86 20 100 67.21 22.94

Obstacles/constraints 91 20 100 69.23 25.53

Marketing potentials 71 20 100 73.52 24.33

Product quantity 18 40 100 67.78 24.87

Total 2 399 20 100 71.58 25.23

Science and Technology

Adaptability of rural entrepreneurs to transformation techniques

72 20 40 23.33 7.51

Adaptability of site to transformation technique 71 20 40 29.30 10.05

State of infrastructure 90 20 40 22.44 6.59

Availability of human resources 90 20 40 23.33 7.50

Expertise of labour 90 20 40 25.33 8.89

Total 3 413 20 40 24.60 8.43

Social/Institutional Direct benefits to community 90 20 60 44.89 13.84

Contribution to household revenue 73 20 100 68.77 27.69

Contribution to employment 91 20 100 61.54 25.51

Experience with product 54 20 100 62.59 30.11

Gender impacts 90 20 100 74.49 26.19

Restriction to consumption 2 80 80 80.00 0.00

Total 4 400 20 100 65.38 14.09

Total 1660 20 100 56.90 29.78

organisations as a means to improve the quality of life in rural areas in many parts of the developing and developed world (Tieguhong et al. 2010b, Dampha and Camera 2005, Auren and Krassowska 2004, Bose et al. 2003, Brubaker 1999, Mohammed 1999, Davidson-Hunt 1998, Higgins 1998). The results provided in this paper are vivid testimonies to the possible role of NWFP based enterprises in providing employment and economic opportunities for local and marginalized groups of people in Central Africa, particularly groups that mostly operate informally and with low capital outlays. The Commission for Africa (2005) reiterated that poverty reduction through growth requires a focus on the indigenous private sector, which in Africa is composed of a

myriad of micro, small and medium enterprises involved in the gathering and selling of NWFPs in forested regions.

This is not a far-fetched or an unrealistic assumption. For example, elsewhere in Africa, Tiveau (2008), observed that collective action through sales in unions as encouraged by a CIFOR-managed project (Achieving the Millennium Devel-opment Goals in African Dry Forests) in Burkina Faso helped to improve the income of gum Arabic harvesters, especially women, from 60 US cents to US$1, with production gains from two tons to 12 tons in the Yagha Province. Still in Burkina Faso, the MA&D approach was used to train 164 tree product interest groups with total membership of 1735 and aggregated forecast income of US$ 1.5 million (Hill et al.

370 J.C. Tieguhong et al.

FIGURE 2 Mean scores for factors used in selecting NWFP for enterprise development (Means with the same letter symbols are not statistically different at 5% level)

TABLE 4 Number of NGOs, groups trained and villages involved in MA&D by region and country

Country Regions Name of NGONumber of NGOs

Number of

Villages

Sum Groups trained

Number of people trained

Cameroon Extreme North GICPRO3LOCAUX, GREEN SAFE 2 7 28 308,00

North GIC Narral 1 4 8 185,00

Northwest BERWODEVCOP, COMINSUD, FAP 3 11 47 633,00

DRC Bas Congo ADEI/NSIONI, Gradic/Boma, Graed/Boma

3 23 63 1101,00

Equateur ASJT, CODAFE, UDPIL 3 22 56 730,00

Kinshasa/Kisantu Levain des Masses 1 10 20 377,00

Kinshasa/Mbanza Ngungu Nguizani/plateforme 1 10 11 181,00

Total 14 87 233 3515,00

24.6c(SD=8.43)

61.2b (SD=26.27)

70.56ab (SD=25.63)

71.64a (SD=29.99)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Science and Technology

Social/Institutional

Market/Economy

Resources management/Environment

Factors

Percentage

2007). Similar results have been achieved in promoting SMFE based on NWFP in Uganda, Ethiopia, India, China, Mozambique, Ghana, Guyana and South Africa (Osei-Tutu et al. 2010, Isranbakhsh et al. 2009, Kozak 2007, Ledecq et al. 2006, Mendes and Macqueen 2006, Nicholson et al. 2006, Weyerhaeuser et al. 2006, Saigal et al. 2003, Thomas et al. 2003). In Mozambique, approximately 6850 formal jobs and 195000 informal SMFEs are based on NWFP (Nhancale et al. 2009). Lewis et al. (2004), reported on 28 million users of medicinal plant products and 255 000 traditional healers in Southern Africa. In Ethiopia, medicinal plants, wild coffee and honey/beewax annually contribute US$ 216 million, US$ 130 million and US$ 86 million respectively to the pockets of producers (Gebremariam et al. 2009). Outside the developing world such as in Canada, the annual potential value of NWFP is estimated at $1 billion Canadian. This plays a critical socioeconomic role at the national and regional levels because they contribute greatly to rural economies

through seasonal employment and often allow families to increase their yearly income by $8,000–10,000 (Mohammed 1999). Hence, NWFP is perceived as a means to reduce poverty and improve quality of life in rural Canada. Similarly in the developing world, Akinnifesi et al. (2008) view NWFP as a natural resource based livelihood strategy and as a hunger escaping opportunity for rural people that face food insecu-rity and malnourishment, especially for the 60- 85% of rural households in southern Africa that lack access to food for three to four months each year. According to Lewis et al. (2004) different country diagnostics show that SMFE contrib-ute significantly to the livelihoods of people with the net effect on the myriad of small players representing a substan-tial part of local economies. Thus, the challenge is on raising the sector’s visibility such that its impacts can be better assessed, and then going on to explore how the positive links to sustainability, livelihoods and poverty-reduction can be enhanced.

Rural enterprise development for poverty alleviation 371

FIGURE 3 Members of groups trained by sex in Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

TABLE 5 Characteristics of total membership of groups trained by region, gender and country

Country Regions Gender Min Max Mean Sum Std Dev

Cameroon Extreme North Total 14,00 80,00 44,00 308,00 22,41

Men 0,00 11,00 3,43 24,00 3,87

Women 13,00 77,00 40,57 284,00 22,28

North Total 23,00 87,00 46,25 185,00 28,37

Men 5,00 19,00 9,75 39,00 6,40

Women 14,00 81,00 36,50 146,00 30,18

Northwest Total 32,00 150,00 57,55 633,00 32,38

Men 20,00 60,00 34,27 377,00 13,96

Women 6,00 90,00 23,27 256,00 23,16

Total Cameroon 14,00 150,00 51,18 1126,00 28,30

DRC Bas Congo Total 12,00 109,00 47,87 1101,00 32,15

Men 6,00 79,00 31,00 713,00 19,34

Women 2,00 61,00 17,30 398,00 15,88

Equateur Total 7,00 122,00 33,18 730,00 34,74

Men 5,00 84,00 21,68 477,00 22,64

Women 0,00 38,00 11,50 253,00 13,19

Kinshasa/Kisantu Total 17,00 82,00 37,70 377,00 20,93

Men 0,00 57,00 24,00 240,00 15,66

Women 4,00 39,00 13,70 137,00 11,55

Kinshasa/Mbanza Ngungu

Total 11,00 31,00 18,10 181,00 6,06

Men 8,00 25,00 14,10 141,00 4,70

Women 1,00 7,00 4,00 40,00 2,31

Total (Democratic Republic of Congo)

7,00 122,00 36,75 2389,00 30,35

Grand Total 7,00 150,00 40,40 3515,00 30,35

372 J.C. Tieguhong et al.

TABLE 6 Number of groups by products and regions in Cameroon and Democratic Republic of Congo

Products

Cameroon DRCGrand TotalExtreme

NorthNorth

Northwest

TotalBas

CongoEquateur

Kinshasa Kisantu

Kinshasa/Mbanza Ngungu

Total

Honey 7 7 26 10 9 45 52

Gnetum spp. 0 21 24 45 45

Thatch, Straw, Rush 0 13 13 13

Maranthaceae 0 2 2 2

Rattan 0 9 9 9

Safou (Dacryodes edulis) 0 16 10 2 28 28

Leaves/fruits of Baobab (Adansonia digitata)

3 3 0 3

Shea butter 3 3 0 3

Neem oil (Azadirachta indica) 20 1 21 0 21

Balanites grains/leaves 6 6 0 6

Fruits of Anacarde (Anacardium occidental)

1 1 0 1

Juice of Tamarindus indica 1 1 0 1

Grains and leaves of Quinkélibat 1 1 0 1

Caterpillars 0 8 8 8

Voacanga africana 15 15 0 15

Jatropha caucus 1 1 0 1

Bush mango (Irvingia spp.) 14 14 0 14

Bushmango, njansang, Bush pepper

4 4 0 4

Njansang, bush pepper 3 3 0 3

Njansang, country onion 3 3 0 3

Total 28 8 47 83 63 56 20 11 150 233

Some prominent authors believe that the divergent factors that constrain the selection and development of SMFE based on NWFP are pointers to the need for some proper examina-tion and understanding of those factors before making any development intervention in the sector (Hill and Conditamde 2007, Nair 2007, Warner 2007). Macqueen et al. (2009) argue for being realistic in the selection process by focussing on manageable and more promising NWFPs (important in break-ing out of poverty) that respond to market opportunities linked to urban and peri-urban areas and requiring some skills and capital to set up. Such NWFPs contrast with those involving a large number of rural poor and characterised by very small, low-input and low-output enterprises that mostly meet their coping strategies. Specifically looking at the market/econom-ic factors that contributed to the selection of certain NWFP and not others for the development of SMFE by local people, the result of this study showed that export markets were either non-existent or weakly developed for products such as honey, bushmango and okok (Gnetum spp). Market intelligence on product sources and prices were hardly at the grip of local

producers, requiring a market information system as pinpointed by Nair (2007) that a major gap in NWFP develop-ment is that of uncertainty in the functioning of markets. According to Marshall et al. (2006), efforts to reconcile the objectives of forest conservation, the development of forest products value chains and rural development have often been hampered by the limited understanding of the complexity of the factors that affect the contribution of forest resources to local livelihoods. Added to this challenge are the postulates of some authors that the importance of the availability of exter-nal finance (often limited and of short duration) for SMFEs cannot be underestimated for strengthening the NWFP sector (Donovan et al. 2006, Berger and Udell 2005). Within the framework of this project, effort was made to understand the way (social funding or targeted) and how much financial assistance (need based or homogenous across all enterprises irrespective of financial requirement) can be provided for promoting SMFEs under a given project. It was concluded that assistance to SMFEs should be targeted based on the critical assessment of the needs (financial, organisational,

Rural enterprise development for poverty alleviation 373

technical, managerial and technological) of each enterprise (Tieguhong et al. 2012).

Which value of NWFP is more important to households, financial (cash income) or nutritional (self-consumption)? Evident from this study was that the contributions of NWFP to household income and nutrition were all rated as important to households but the extent varied with the product rather than between countries. Nutritional values actually exceeded the cash values for most of the NWFP produced by house-holds. This can be justified by the fact only three NWFPs out of 32 in Cameroon and DRC had relatively higher frequency of being sold than being consumed at the household level (Figure 4). It could be argued that the consumption of NWFP is a traditional practice that has stood the test of time while their commercialisation is a more recent phenomenon that is tight to evolving marketing systems, albeit weakly developed for most products.

Resources management/environmental factors are central to sustainable supply of NWFP. This could be testified from the trees households are willing to plant and the type of prod-ucts (unique or multiple uses) they expect from their plants. Indeed, enterprise development based on NWFP has gaps at the production and management levels in the wild as well as in domesticated fields. Issues related to sustainable harvest-ing, ensuring perennial resource availability, increasing stocks through enrichment planting or domestication were poorly addressed in communities as well as in government strategies. The revolving question is: in order to ensure sustainability,

are farmers only interested in harvesting from the wild? Farm-ers vividly answered no to this question, which puts to test the requirement for closing existing production gaps. Farmers ranked the trees there are interested to plant (Figure 5) with mostly fruit trees coming in the forefront. The implication is that under existing socio-economic circumstances a timber-centric approach may not work for local communities’ involvement in the conservation and regeneration of NWFP species in Cameroon and DRC (Ribero 2009). Rather, it could be concluded that the farmers should be motivated to plant trees for multiple uses rather than unique products. For instance, among the 30 plants that farmers were willing to plant in their farms, 27% were of both agriculture and NWFP values and 10% were of both timber and NWFP values, indicating a reasonable level of the multi-functionality of flora that farmers preferred to plant. However, given that 30%, 27% and 3% of the plants were solely of agriculture, NWFP and timber values respectively, are indicative of some level of specialization in the products expected from plants that farmers are interested in planting (Figure 6).

This is in conformity with experiences in Philippines, where it has been demonstrated that an ideal extractive system should be based on a mix of products to enable sustainable harvesting throughout the year (Marshall et al. 2006). Addressing risks and seasonality of products (Nair 2007, Akinnifesi et al. 2004) could form the underpinning decision traits rather than specialization for higher profits while producing unique products. In the countries under study,

FIGURE 4 Contribution of non-wood forest products to household nutrition and income in Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo

374 J.C. Tieguhong et al.

FIGURE 5 Plants households are willing to cultivate in the Democratic Republic of Congo

choices are informed by management and economic factors with the availability of the resources playing a leading role. Travelling longer distances and making a greater investment of energy in obtaining unit products all suggest increasing pressure on natural stock and diminishing resources as products become more commercialised (Nair 2007, Kazoora et al. 2006, Lewis et al. 2004). These call for better manage-ment techniques of existing resources, the need to expand production niches through domestication, and possibly to reduce waste on exploitation and use of available resources (Tieguhong et al. 2009a).

In relation to science and technological factors, the pondering question was on whether farmers know or have

access to processing technologies? The low importance given to Science and Technology by farmers is intriguing and seems to disprove or question the key assumption of most interna-tional institutions like FAO, CIFOR and ICRAF that people need better science and technology to develop their enterpris-es. From the results obtained, this assumption is disproved in absolute terms but must be treated with caution in the context of rural people in the region. The reality lies in the high level of ignorance rather than in their disinterestedness in science and technology. Once the farmers become aware of the new and affordable possibilities within their reach, they embrace them to improve their status-quo (Akinnifesi et al. 2008, Kambewa and Utila 2008, Bukula and Memani 2006,

Rural enterprise development for poverty alleviation 375

FIGURE 6 Plants households are willing to cultivate classified as non-wood forest product, agriculture or timber in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Macqueen et al. 2006). Indeed, overall farmers’ perception on progress in research and development was still very poor because most of them were not aware that their raw materials could be transformed into other products of higher prices and quality. With such ignorance, little or no investment is made on NWFP processing technologies, as was confirmed from the low scores given to science and technology by the farmers themselves. For example, some commercially important NWFPs like Gnetum spp. and Irvingia gabonensis could be processed to finished products with longer shelf lives and ease for exportation but the processing techniques are either poorly developed with rudimentary tools or there is virtual

lack of up-scaling in existing experiences. What should be taken into account by most international institutions is that they need to take time to sensitise local people on the role of science and technology and the benefits thereof in improving their wellbeing. The challenge is that existing research institutions are either wary of intervening in expensive and sophisticated value addition technologies or they have simply not been able to address these issues satisfactorily because of lack of clear research vision to this end (Nair 2007, Mayers 2006). Although science and technology in the NWFP sector is still poorly developed/understood and broadly unavailable in Central Africa (Tieguhong et al. 2009b), the need for

376 J.C. Tieguhong et al.

research and development for value addition is very urgent in the process of enabling local people to earn more from NWFP (Tieguhong and Ndoye 2006). Consistent improvements in processing technologies in the countries of origin could lead to improved productivity, quality, reliability of supply that meets the standards of international clients (Schreckenberg 2003).

Social and institutional issues are discussed with respect to gender, legal arrangements and organisational set ups for producers. NWFP based enterprises are gender sensitive with numerous economic and subsistence opportunities for women, as confirmed by other researchers in Burkina Faso, Zambia and Ethiopia (Gerbremariam et al. 2009, Tiveau 2008, Hill and Conditamde 2007). However, the fact that more women are involved in NWFP enterprises in Cameroon than in the DRC could be associated with a higher level of political stability in Cameroon with less violence against women in remote forested areas rather than with a lack of interest. Indeed, other authors have purported and confirmed that women have differential access to production resources (Carr 2007), knowledge (Nair 2007) and entrepreneurship (Tieguhong et al. 2010b, Marshall et al. 2006), which may explain their weak engagement in NWFP enterprise develop-ment. The extent to which rural people are organised has direct implications on accessing resources, improved tech-nologies and gaining access to markets (Macqueen 2007, Donovan et al. 2006). In this study, organised groups were found to be more active and knowledgeable on NWFP pro-duction zones, legal issues and processing techniques than those engage in the sector as individuals. Indeed, within group discussions ensure exchange of ideas and practices, as well as harnessing resources and energy to meet up with contempo-rary challenges. The MA&D approach clearly highlights the need for dealers to form groups and to legalise their structures in conformity with the findings of other authors in action research and group dynamics in SMFE development (Kinyanyui, 2010, Macqueen 2008, Bose et al. 2006, Bukula et al. 2006, Kazoora et al. 2006, Weyerhaeuser et al. 2006). Concerns on legal issues governing the NWFP sector have evolved based on contemporary concepts such as access and user rights, corruption, illegality and transparency. In central Africa, these issues translate into administrative bottlenecks to obtain exploitation and trade permits, multiplicity of controls and payment of informal taxes with overall conse-quences of high administrative and transaction costs (up to 35%) for producers and traders in the NWFP value chains (Tieguhong et al. 2010a, FAO 2008).

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the findings provided in this paper, it can be con-cluded that progress on the economic empowerment of mar-ginalised groups, greater positive livelihoods opportunities and poverty reduction impacts of the NWFP sector in Central Africa can be achieved given consistent capacity building in larger geographical areas on the production, processing and commercialisation of NWFP. This can partly come from

scaling up the current MA&D approach and creating or supporting the development of producer groups as well as creating enabling institutional/financial environments for small businesses. Support to effective marketing arrange-ments such as group sales and the supply of market informa-tion in rural areas needs greater support and expansion beyond the current project sites. All of these actions will require increased funds from interested donors and the countries of the sub-region over longer durations.

Undertaking in-situ and ex-situ domestication and conser-vation measures for NWFP geared at reducing resource depletion and reviving preferred and endangered NWFPs are important for sustainable production and the improvement of rural livelihoods. Special attention need to be paid to the gender role of men and women in planting, harvesting, processing and marketing the NWFP. Attention in the policy arena may include looking at the differentiation of NWFP from the wild and those from farmers’ plots for reasons related to government taxation systems including how land/tree tenure rights affect daily decisions of farmers on what NWFP to grow, selection of investments options and the adoption of new production and processing technologies for NWFP (for example, bushmango) entering into sophisticated cosmetic industries. Interventions in this direction may result in income independence from the sustainable development of rural enterprises, increase in prospects for meeting MDGs (gender equity, poverty reduction & food security) by 2015, better management of rural resources and reduced environmental degradation and global benefit in meeting environmental and socio-economic development goals in rural settings in the developing world. In this light, the paper strongly makes a call for additional funding for MA&D expansion to other regions/countries in Central Africa.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to acknowledge the European Union for providing funds for this study.

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