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3.0 Income and employment, forestry and food security

The last chapter explored the direct contributions forests make to household food security. Forests also contribute indirectly to household food security, through the generation of income and employment from the sale and exchange of gathered and processed forest products such as fuelwood, rattan, bamboo and fibres. Forests provide the raw materials for many small-scale rural enterprises such as wood for furniture and implement making. In addition, fuelwood provides the main energy source for many other small-scale processing enterprises such as fish-smoking and beer-brewing.

Marketable forest products provide the opportunity to supplement household income, as well as providing a relief source in times of seasonal and emergency food and cash shortages. The role of these forest-based activities varíes depending on the availability of alternative employment (especially agricultural tasks), the seasonal availability of the forest products, the need for cash income, access to the forest resource, the conditions of the forest resource and access to markets.

No studies directly relate income generating forest activities with household food security. Studies rarely focus on how forest-based income is spent, nor on who spends it. In some cases, for example, forest-earned income is used to purchase foods, in other cases it may be invested in agricultural land or agricultural inputs such as seeds or livestock. Thus the link between generated income and food security must be assumed, while keeping in mind that income also contributes to other "securities" such as housing, education, or clothing.

3.1 Characteristics of small-scale forest-based processing and, gathering enterprises for rural households

While forest-based trade varies from region to region depending on markets, the local people, their alternative means of employment and the resources of the different ecosystems in which they live, there are also some characteristics which are common to many forest-based enterprises. They can be summarized as follows:

3.1.1 Gathering Enterprises

Gathering and sale of forest products is an important economic activity for many rural people. A multitude of products are gathered for both local and in some cases the urban or export markets. Most studies appear to focus on products gathered for urban and export markets although these may not be the most important in terms of meeting daily basic needs. No studies have been done which synthesize the disparate information available on forest-based gathering activities. Indeed there are few studies which focus on the economics of forest-based gathering activities. The material presented here is drawn from case studies which do not focus on the links between forest-based gathering and food security. Therefore, the information should be taken as indicative rather than conclusive. Nonetheless, available information illustrates the nature, dimensions and importance of income earned from forest gathering activities for rural households.

Many studies document the importance of the forest product trade for forest dwellers and tribals (e.g. IDRC 1980, Weinstock 1983, Connelly 1985, Endicott 1980). However, many agricultural people also depend on the income earned through forest product gathering. In their study conducted in a lowland village in the Philippines, Siebert and Belsky (1985) reveal that 73% of the households in the region cannot generate enough food or cash income from agriculture to meet basic needs. The authors found that all village households collected forest products for supplementary and emergency income. Furthermore, more than half of the households depended on rattan collection and timber wage-labour as a primary source of livelihood (see Table 3.17). It is generally the men from the poorer households who depend most on rattan collection, although more households become involved in collection and trade as agricultural conditions worsen.

Siebert and Belsky (1985) conclude that the labour intensive nature and decentralised trade structure of rattan and other non-timber product gathering activities provide more benefits to local economies compared with the timber industry. The majority of rattan is collected to meet local market demands (81% of the rattan was sold to a local furniture manufacturer). Prices generally vary depending on the time of year as well as the grade of the cane collected. In this area the quality of the rattan as well as the ease with which it can be found are diminishing because of high exploitation and increased land clearing for agriculture.

Babassu palm (Orbignva martiana) kernel collection and oil processing in northeastern Brazil provides another example of income earned by farmers from forest. gathering activities (May et al. 1985a). The researchers assert that millions of subsistence level farmers in the region rely on cash earned from the sale of gathered and oil-processed kernels. The majority of farmers in the area are landless (tenant farmers) and kernel collection is one of the few ways they can supplement their cash income. Kernel collection and sale corresponds with the slack period in agriculture, as well as the period of most severe cash needs. Both men and women are involved with the collection of Babassu fruit, though it is primarily the women who are involved with oil extraction from the kernels. The palm also provides a multitude of other products including thatch, basketry, charcoal, and food (see Table 3.1).

Table 3.1: Proportion of rural families using Babassu in Maranháo Municipios

 

Percent of families interviewed (n = sample size)

Municipio

Thatch

Basketry

Charcoal

Milk

Oil

Palmito

Bacabal

(n=104)

86

96

96

44

53

na

Lima Campos

(n=64)

94

83

92

70

66

8

Sao Bento

(n=57)

76

72

49

72

74

16

Chapadinha

(n=98)

86

90

96

89

91

42

Average

86

85

83

69

71

22

Source: May et al., 1985a.

The fuelwood trade increasingly provides another source of cash income for many rural agriculturalists, especially women. Most studies about fuelwood focus on fuelwood consumption and the physical biomass supply. Only recently have studies begun to address issues such as the income to be earned by rural households in the trade. In a detailed study of the production, marketing and household use of fuelwood in three rural and urban areas of Sierra Leone, Kamara (1986) found that the rural fuelwood market is located primarily in villages near roads leading to towns. Most traders sell fuelwood part-time in order to supplement their household income. The majority of fuelwood collectors and sellers are women both in the rural and urban areas, although rural men provide about 20% of the marketed fuelwood. The cash income earned from fuelwood collection plays an important role in the agricultural cycle: it provides the first cash income from land cleared for rice production; subsequently, fuelwood collection for the market is concentrated during the off-peak agriculture period, providing cash income in a period when food supplies are generally at their lowest.

Fuelwood is characteristically traded between rural and urban areas, although some wood is purchased in rural areas suffering from severe deforestation or by rural processing enterprises requiring large quantities of fuelwood. Generally there is open market access, many buyers and sellers, few if any government price interventions, and high transportation costs in relation to the value of the fuelwood. There are many means of transportation ranging from the headload to large trucks.

3.1.2 Processing Enterprises

There is a wide range of forest and tree products which undergo simple processing at the household or small-scale rural enterprise level. The information on processing enterprises presented here is based on a recent study which summarizes data from six countries on the nature, magnitude and contribution of forest-based small-scale enterprises to rural income and employment (Fisseha 1987). The study found that the majority of enterprises produce furniture, agricultural implements, vehicle parts, baskets, mats and other products of cane, reeds and vines. They serve predominantly rural household and agricultural markets, and are usually their principal source of supply. Handicrafts production, however, generally serves urban and occasionally export markets. The main types of processing activities are summarized in Table 3.2.

Table 3.2: Composition of the small-scale forest-based manufacturing enterprise groupe.

FBSSI types 2

% of total number of enterprises

Jamaica

Honduras

Zambia

Egypt

Sierra Leone

Bangladesh

Saw-milling/

Pitswawing

0.8

3.2

5.6

-.-

0.1

0.9

Carpentry/

furniture

23.1

71.4

14.3

23.8

66.8

27.2

Wood carving/

bamboo/cane

12.5

0.2

11.9

-.-

5.9

11.6

Basket/mat/

hat making

63.5

10.6

60.3

70.4

23.8

32.4

Others1

0.1

14.6

7.9

5.8

3.4

27.9

1. The "Other" category includes activities such as broom making in

Honduras, fuelwood in Zambia, agricultural tools in Egypt, and container

making and agricultural tools in Bangladesh.

2. Many FBSSIs do not specialize in the production of one item; so classi-

fication sometimes depends on the most dominant or important activity.

Source: Fisseha. 1987.

Most of these enterprises are very small: over half the units surveyed in the six countries are one-person, household-based operations. The average size of the work force range from 1.7 to 3.8 persons, and less than one percent employ 10 workers or more. Most enterprises are owned by people (or family members) working in them. Nine out of ten labourers own (or their families own) the enterprise, other workers are "employed" as informal apprentices. Women figure prominently as owners as well as employees (see Table 3.3). In Jamaica, for example, 32% of the enterprises are owned by women; in addition women make up 30% of the labor force.

Table 3.3: Summary of basic characteristics of the FBSSI$

Attribute

Jamaica

Honduras

Zambia

Egypt

Sierra Leone

Bangladesh

Proportion of total FBSSIs (%)

One-person operations

Production at home, not workshop

Rural location:

- Enterprises

Employment

Women's share:

- Ownership

- Labour force

% family members in

- Labour force(No)

- Hours worked

Mean Values:

N2 of workers per

enterprise

Total investment (US$)

Hrs. worked annually per worker

Annual production value per firm (US$)

58

52

88

79

32

30

82

68

2.2

3030

990

4979

59

72

100

100

10

6

51

57

2.2

1055

1247

2536

69

81

96

95

12

12

86

-.-

1.71

-.-

1205

-.-

69

76

80

65

65

31

89

89

1.9

-.-

1712

1501

-.-

-.-

99

96

-.-

-.-

(41)

34

1.8

431

2004

1384

36

-.-

97

-.-

(3)

21

73

-.-

3.8

255

836

2362

1. The number of hours per work er for Zambia is estimated from the one-visit survey.

Source: Fisseha, 1987.

There appears to be clear distinction between the types of enterprises involving women and men. The information from Zambia summarised in Table 3.4 illustrates this distinction. Carving and basket making are predominantly household-based enterprises. Women are owners of a large share of the enterprises in broom making, bamboo/cane processing and twine/rope making; but are rarely involved in carpentry and furniture making. This distinction has important implications for food security as is discussed in later sections; the former are generally less remunerative, and yet women's income may be crucially important to the stability of the household's food supply.

Table 3.4: Distribution (%) of the labour force types in the Zambian FBSSE Group

FBSSE

sub-group

Share of Total Labour Force (X)

Share (%) of women

Proprietor

Family

Members1

Hired workers

Apprentices

Workers

Owners

Pitsawing

42

19

28

11

5

4

Carpentry/ Furniture

59

23

13

5

1

1

Carving/Basket

69

20

3

9

16

15

Other mfg.2

60

33

6

2

39

48

Total Mfg.3

64

21

7

8

12

12

Retail

81

15

1

3

5

6

Vending

60

25

6

9

38

31

Total Serv.

62

24

6

8

35

31

Grand Total

64

22

7

8

14

13

1 "Family members" does not include proprietors; however both proprietors and family members together are referred to as "family labour".

2 Due to rounding off numbers, cumulative percentages may not add up to

100.

3 "Mfg." and "sere." stand respectively for manufacturing and services.

Source: Fisseha, Y. and J. Milimo, 1986.

3.2 The importance of forest-based enterprises for rural households

Information on the collection and importance of forest products generally focuses either on those products which are traded at the national or international level, or on listing species useful for gathering or processing. The first approach provides little insight into the importance of these products in rural household economies. Tables 3.5 and 3.6 describe the value of forest production in Korea. While these figures do indicate the relative importance of "secondary forest products" they provide no information about the numbers of people trading and using these products nor how much rural people can earn or gain from their exploitation. In addition, such figures reflect the minimum production as locally traded products generally go unrecorded. On the other hand, studies which focus on the uses of forest products usually only provide long lists of species which provide little information for forest planners.

Table 3.5: Production value of forest products in the Republic of Korea, 1976

No.

Classification

Value

in mill. Won.

Production

%

A. Primary Products

_

1. Timber

2. Bamboo

3. Fuelwood

23,130

441

28,151

14.73

0.28

17.92

Total A

51,722

32.93

B. Secondary Products

1. Manure material

2. Forage

3. Nuts and fruits

4. Mushrooms

5. Resin

6. Cork

7. Soil and Stones

8. Others

64,176

16,112

7, 680

4,453

358

30

9,571

2,807

40.85

10.26

5.00

2.83

0.23

0.02

6.09

1.79

Total B

105,367

67.07

Total A + B

157,089

100.00

N.B. 1 US$ = + 476 Won

Source: L.W.M. Meulenhoff and Toga M. Silitonga, 1978.

Table 3.6: Production of main forest by-products in Korea, 1967-1972 (1,000 kg)

Product

Years

1967

1968

1969

1970

1971

1972

Turpentine

Cork-oak bark

Pine mushrooms

Oak mushrooms1

Arrow-root fibre

Chestnuts

1,568

1,030

59

108

58

1,201

1,189

1,000

118

139

174

1,793

611

1,000

119

160

233

1,734

519

973

192

187

381

2,333

689

768

65

208

274

2,789

459

772

170

263

204

2,905

1"Kuzu" fibre

Source: FAO, 1982a.

With the exception of Fisseha's study, few have attempted to assess the magnitude and extent of forest-based income earning activities. Therefore, no direct comparisons or overall figures are presented as they would be meaningless given the literature available (i.e. country-wide estimates compared with village level studies). What follows is a tapestry, disparate examples from the literature which in their entirety illustrate the magnitude and importance of these forest-based activities in rural (and thus national) economies.


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