Forest is not only wood : the importance of non-wood forest products for the food security of rural households in Ethiopia
2002
Pol, J. L. V. | Teketay, D. | Yemshaw, Y.
This paper examines the present role of Non-Wood Forest Products (NWFP) in the food diet and income diversification of rural poor household in Ethiopia. Non-farm activities based on NWFP represent a high percentage of total income among poor rural household, being especially quite important for rural women, the poorest sector of farmers, and during periods of hardship and droughts. The educational level fundamentally determines the involvement in these activities. The availability of raw materials, the market isolation and the transport costs; and the importance usually lies more in is timing than in its magnitude. These activities have a number of important characteristics in common: small size, household-based, accessible to the poorest, labor intensive, and little capital. Specific sections are devoted to the importance of NWFP to household diet (medicinal plants included); as well as the contribution of animal resources (honey, civet farming and game hunting) and non-wood forest products (bamboo, natural gums, wild spices and essential oils) to income diversification and forest-based small-scale enterprises. Women's role in forest-based activities in examined, outlining the importance in generating income independent from their male counterparts. The poorest classes of pastoralists remain very much dependent on these NWFP present in the bush, here called non-livestock activities.
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