Feeding the domestic market: is small-scale timber harvesting sustainable in

Cameroon?

Valentina Robiglio, Paolo Omar Cerutti, Guillaume Lescuyer.

Taking Stock of Small holder and Community Forestry24-26 March 2010, Montpellier, France.

Rationale:The existence of a flourishing timber domestic sector (DS):

sales reached about 600,000 m3(sawnwood);Most of the timber marketed in the DS is “illegally” sourced from the Non

Permanent Forest Domain (NPFD);General conclusion is that the Non Permanent Forest Domain (NPFD)

works as a buffer to supply timber to the DS and reduce the pressure on the Permanent Domain

Question: How far the timber harvested in the rural mosaic does represent a valuable option to control the pressure on forest resources in the Permanent Forest Domain and can guarantee provision to the DS

Analysis: Identification of the species traded, the agricultural units within which

they are integrated and more frequently harvested Characterization of management and harvesting practices in rural areas Assessment of the current volume of supply of timber from farm land

The Centre Region:

• 92% of the timber sold in Yaoundé (87% of total marketed timber) is sourced from the Centre Region;

• The 70% of that timber comes from the rural mosaic;

• It is the less forested region/more densely populated of the forest zone

The humid forest zone: the zoning plan

The Humid Forest Zone : 16.9 M ha + about 4.5 M ha of forest/agricultural mosaic

The NPDF(1994): forest that can be allocated to other uses, SSV, Community forests and other small titles;

The Central Region: 70 % of Forests, 18% PFD;

Mosaïque agricole:1) Fields2) Young Fallow/Old fallow3) Cocoa agroforest4) Small «domestic » forest (degraded forest )

forest30%

secondary forest27%

cocoa agroforests

13%

fallows24%

fields6%

swamp0%

Centre Region: agricultural land use units and timber supply

The humid forest zone: the agricultural mosaic

Data:Urban market data about timber -species,

products and origin- sold in the 24 markets of Yaoundé;

Recording of 150 small-scale forestry operations (in 18 Councils) in 8 departments;

Data on small-holders timber trees management and harvesting practices (in 6 Councils);

Public data from FAO –FNMA and spatial data from GFW Atlas and ProPsfe + data about agricultural production surfaces from the MINADER .

Results 1: market and supplying departmentsAbout 75% of total sales in the Market of Yaounde is made of 5

species. The rest of sales includes about 30 species. Ayous 45%, Iroko 10%, Bilinga 8%, Movingui 7%, Sapelli 5%;About 50% of the sales comes from one single department (Mefou

et Afamba).

Results 2: harvesting operations species/LU difference species /land unit (species that are marketed in urban markets)

cacaoyère27%

forêt8%

forêt sec-

ondaire29%

jachère36%

Ayous / Obeche

cacaoyère3%

champs20%

forêt38%

forêt secondaire22%

jachère17%

Iroko

forêt6%

forêt sec-

ondaire53%

jachère41%

Bilinga

champs6%

forêt71%

forêt secondaire3%

jachère19%

Dibétou

Results 3: on-farm timber harvesting & management

Ayous 36%

Iroko32%

Fraké 8%

Movingui8%

Pashi6%

Dibétou4%

Ebai4%

Miama4%

Logged species (5 years)

Ayou

s*

Irok

o*

Frak

é*

Mov

ingu

i*

Pash

i

Dib

étou

*

Ebai

Mia

ma0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

18%

20%

Logged trees (last 5 years) : species frequency per land unit type (% of total individuals declared)

forest cocoa agroforests fallows fieldsminimum was 2 declarations above 62

• Farmers harvest valuable timber growing in their farms (87%) and sell it (47%); • The species harvested are the same sold in the urban market + others for local uses

• Logging operations are conducted with chainsaws on the felling site without transporting timber logs to processing units

• Logging is operated by sawyers, coming from the village or from Yaounde.

• In one village the sale is contracted individually, by offer to a sawyers crew operating in the zone or by demand.

• Farmers sell the standing tree or they contract for the transformation and sell the sawn products. In this way they usually get a higher return and are paid cash.

€

Results 3: on-farm timber harvesting & management

71.4% of the farmers protect naturally regenerated trees from fire and from competing weeds from the young fallow phase onward throughout several fallow-crop sequences.

In the cocoa agro-forests tree species with a known positive effect on the micro-environmental conditions are allowed to grow. Their position in the farm counts in deciding about maintaining them or not.

The 88% of the farmers perceive that natural regeneration is declining and the species that are logged are disappearing. Only a 17% of farmers indicate re-planting as a measure to maintain the timber stock, however only very few farmers do that.

There is no strategy to maintain a stable stock of commercial timber on the land.

Results 3: on-farm timber harvesting & management

Results 4: data on stockThe analysis of FAO inventory data suggests that:•All the species occur more frequently and have more important volumes and densities in the shifting cultivation units (annual crops and fallow units together and in particular in older fallows) than in the perennial crops (cocoa and coffee agroforests).

•Species typical of dense high forest are rare if not absent from farmland whereas other species included Ayous and Iroko but in particular Frake, Dabema, regenerate also in degraded land;

•Among the most important harvested species, Ayous and Iroko present small individuals indicating the presence of natural regeneration and recruitment processes also in disturbed conditions;

•High volume values associated to low densities signals the occurrence of large diameter individuals that are remnants from the previous forest stand;

Research directions: 1. Availability and legal access to forest land for agricultural conversion

Research directions:1. Type of field into which the forest is converted (and of cycle)

Research directions:

1. Type of field into which the forest is converted (and of cycle)

CONCLUSIONSIn customarily managed forest land a strong relationship exists

between agricultural land use and small-holder timber exploitation;

In the customarily managed forest land land use decision making is done at the household/individual level also for what concerns the timber exploitation;

However timber exploitation is “opportunistic” both when clearing for field preparation and harvesting of single trees standing in the agricultural units;

Timber harvested in the rural mosaic does not represent a long term option to sustainably provide timber to the DS and control the pressure on forest resources in the Permanent Forest Domain.

Valentina Robiglio, Paolo Omar Cerutti, Guillaume Lescuyer.

Taking Stock of Small holder and Community Forestry24-26 March 2010, Montpellier, France.

THANK YOU !