Contribution of non-timber forest products to the livelihoods of the forest-dependent communities around the Khadimnagar National Park in northeastern Bangladesh

doi:10.1016/j.regsus.2021.11.001

Abstract

Abstract:

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) play a significant role in the improvement of the forest-dependent people’s livelihoods around the world, strengthening protection for the sustainable use of forests. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the influence of occupational category-wise (fuelwood collectors, farmers, small-scale businessmen, day labourers, and tea estate labourers) dependency on NTFPs and the role of NTFPs on household income around the Khadimnagar National Park (KNP) in northeastern Bangladesh. In 2014, 178 purposively selected respondents from four villages (out of 22 villages around the KNP) were interviewed face-to-face using a semi-structured questionnaire. The study observed that these forest-dependent communities utilized resources of the KNP mainly for domestic energy supply, household income, and house construction. Results showed that income from NTFPs made a significant contribution to family income. Income data analysis indicated that small-scale businessmen earned relatively more income from NTFPs, followed by tea estate labourers and day labourers. The study revealed significant negative relationships of the distance of households from the forest with the amount of NTFPs collected (P<0.01) and monthly income from NTFPs (P<0.01). Positive significant relationships were found between the amount of NTFPs collected and the time spent in NTFP collection (P<0.001), as well as between monthly income from NTFPs and family size (P<0.001). The fuelwood collectors and farmers collected significantly greater amounts of NTFPs per trip (P<0.001) than other occupational categories. The households that were moderately to highly dependent on NTFPs collected significantly higher amounts of NTFPs per trip (P<0.01) than the households that were moderately dependent and less dependent on NTFPs. Community dependence on KNP’s resources, community’s appreciation of the KNP’s ecosystem services for villagers’ livelihoods, and community’s high levels of concern for forest conservation provided a foundation for the sustainable management of the KNP. The study findings will be useful for designing an effective forest management plan and policy for NTFP management and forest conservation with the active involvement of the forest-dependent people in northeastern Bangladesh.

Key words: Forest dependency, Household income, Non-timber forest products, Forest sustainability, Occupational categories, Khadimnagar National Park

Md. Habibur RAHMAN, Bishwajit ROY, Md. Shahidul ISLAM. Contribution of non-timber forest products to the livelihoods of the forest-dependent communities around the Khadimnagar National Park in northeastern Bangladesh[J]. Regional Sustainability, 2021, 2(3): 280-295.

Figures/Tables 14

Fig. 1.

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3

Basic information of available non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in the KNP."

NTFP type	Usage pattern	Availability trend			Percentage of perception as NTFPs (%)	Reason for the observed trends
NTFP type	Usage pattern	Degree of NTFPs collection	Current status	Status before co-management projects	Percentage of perception as NTFPs (%)	Reason for the observed trends
Bamboo	House-building materials, handicrafts, furniture, fuelwood, and vegetable	Moderate	+++	++	71.9	Illegal bamboo harvesting has decreased due to forest patrolling under co-management projects.
Rattan	House-building materials, handicrafts, and furniture	High	+++	++	63.5	Illegal rattan harvesting has decreased due to forest patrolling under co-management projects.
I. cylindrica	House-building materials (thatching materials of roof and shade), making brooms, fodder, and fuelwood	High	++	+++	57.3	Due to increased plantation areas in denuded hills, the growing area has reduced.
Medicinal Plants	Curing different types of ailments	High	+++	++	48.9	Over exploitation has decreased due to forest patrolling under co-management projects.
Tree poles	House-building materials, furniture, and fuelwood	Less	+++	++	51.1	Illegal trees harvesting has decreased due to forest patrolling under co-management projects.
Fuelwood	Residential and commercial cooking, brick burning, and rice parboiling	High	+++	++	53.4	Extensive fuelwood harvesting has decreased due to forest patrolling under co-management projects.
Fodder	Cattle feeding and fuelwood	High	++	+++	50.6	Due to increased plantation areas in denuded hills, the growing area has reduced.
Wild fruits	Seasonal food for nutritional and medicinal purposes	Less	+++	++	51.7	Over fruit collection has decreased due to forest patrolling under co-management projects.
Wild honey	Food for nutritional and medicinal purposes	Less	++	+	48.3	Illegal honeycomb harvesting has decreased due to forest patrolling under co-management projects.
T. maxima	Making brooms, fuelwood, fodder, and lime washing of building walls	Moderate	+	++	43.8	Due to increased plantation areas in denuded hills, the growing area has reduced.
Seasonal vegetables	Vegetables and curries food for nutritional and medicinal purposes	Moderate	+++	+++	56.2	Over harvesting has decreased due to forest patrolling under co-management projects.
Wildlife hunting and poaching	Food for nutritional and medicinal purposes, rituals for festivals, and illegally sale in the markets	Less	+++	+	80.3	Illegal hunting and poaching have decreased due to forest patrolling under co-management projects.

Table 3

Table 4

Table 5

Table 6

Table 7

Table 8

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

Table 9

Table 10

Table 11

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Village	Household size (N)	Sample size (n)	Location and distance (km)	Forest dependency level
Charagang Tea Estate (CTE)	142	31	Adjacent (0-1)	Moderate to high
Khadimnagar Tea Estate (KhTE)	462	70	Outside (1-2)	Moderate to high
Bajartal	37	37	Outside (2-3)	Moderate
Kalagul Tea Estate (KATE)	247	40	Adjacent (1-2)	Moderate to high

Parameter	Percentage of the respondents (%)
Parameter	KhTE	CTE	Bajartal	KATE	Total
Age range
16-30 years	57.1	41.9	40.5	20.0	42.7
31-45 years	28.6	38.7	40.5	62.5	40.4
46-55 years	14.3	19.4	18.9	17.5	16.9
Sex
Male	58.6	77.4	91.9	100.0	78.1
Female	41.4	22.6	8.1	-	21.9
Family size
1-5 persons	81.4	83.9	78.4	90.0	83.1
6-8 persons	18.6	16.1	18.9	10.0	16.3
>8 persons	-	-	2.7	-	0.6
Education (years of schooling)
Illiterate and can only sign (0 year)	32.9	35.5	32.4	40.0	34.8
Primary (1-5 years)	37.1	38.7	37.8	32.5	36.5
Junior secondary (6-8 years)	27.1	16.1	29.7	27.5	25.8
Senior secondary (9-10 years)	2.9	9.7	-	-	2.8
Occupational categories (income source)
Fuelwood collectors	34.3	19.4	8.1	20.0	23.0 (P)
Farmers	14.3	22.6	21.6	25.0	19.7 (S)
Small-scale businessmen	4.3	12.9	21.6	22.5	13.5 (S)
Day labourers	15.7	16.1	16.3	17.5	16.3 (S)
Tea estate labourers	31.4	29.0	32.4	15.0	27.5 (S)

Statement	Percentage of the respondents (%)
Statement	KhTE	CTE	Bajartal	KATE	Total
Major types of NTFPs derived from the forest
Fuelwood	82.9	87.1	86.5	85.0	84.8
Wild vegetables and fruits	44.3	45.2	73.0	50.0	51.7
House-building materials	61.4	51.6	56.8	45.0	55.1
Tree poles	21.4	29.0	32.4	25.0	25.8
Medicinal plants	67.1	48.4	51.4	57.5	58.4
Bamboo and rattan	31.4	22.6	27.0	35.0	29.8
Intensity of NTFP collection
Daily	58.6	45.1	32.4	32.5	45.0
3-4 times per week	31.4	32.3	45.9	40.0	36.5
Weekly	10.0	22.6	21.6	27.5	18.5
Time spent for NTFP collection per trip in the forest
<3 h	42.9	19.4	13.5	95.0	23.0
3-5 h	51.4	80.6	81.1	5.0	72.5
>5 h	5.7	-	5.4	0.0	4.5
Purposes of NTFP collection
For own use	34.3	45.2	32.4	25.0	33.7
For sale in market	37.1	35.5	40.5	45.0	39.3
For own use and sale	28.6	19.4	27.0	30.0	27.0
Reasons for collecting NTFPs from the forest
Available and free of cost	87.1	83.9	75.7	87.5	84.3
Don’t need much afford to collect	57.1	67.7	64.9	75.0	64.6
Other cooking fuels are expensive	41.4	61.3	67.6	70.0	56.7
Reactions regarding unavailability of NTFPs from the forest
Unsustainable harvesting from the forest	65.7	87.1	78.4	72.5	73.6
Planting fuelwood and fruit-bearing trees	54.3	58.1	51.4	82.5	60.7
Buying from the market	21.4	51.6	35.1	47.5	35.4
Switching over to other available fuels	30.0	29.0	21.6	30.0	28.1
Don't know what to do	14.3	22.6	32.4	32.5	23.6

Attitude	Percentage of the respondents (%)
Attitude	KhTE	CTE	Bajartal	KATE	Total
Protection measures can conserve the forest resources
Yes, the BFD and local people together can conserve	65.7	51.6	54.1	62.5	60.1
There is a need to implement the strict conservation zone	14.3	22.6	21.6	22.5	19.1
Restriction protection measures must be implemented	20.0	25.8	24.3	15.0	20.8
Impact of over-harvesting of NTFPs on forest ecology
Significantly	32.9	67.7	37.8	42.5	42.1
Not significantly	38.6	19.4	27.0	30.0	30.9
No idea	28.6	12.9	35.1	27.5	27.0
Protected area can manage NTFPs in a sustainable way
Yes, it can manage sustainably	61.4	51.6	43.2	47.5	52.8
No, the situation remains the same	15.7	35.5	27.0	30.0	24.7
No idea	22.9	12.9	29.7	22.5	22.5
Involvement of local people in NTFP management could improve the present stocks
Agree	77.1	71.0	78.4	80.0	77.0
Disagree	17.1	19.4	13.5	15.0	16.3
Possibly	5.7	9.7	8.1	5.0	6.7
Increased NTFP collection could balance livelihoods and conservation in the protected area
Positively	85.7	87.1	89.2	80.0	85.4
Negatively	5.7	3.2	2.7	7.5	5.1
No idea	8.6	9.7	8.1	12.5	9.6

NTFP type	Unit	Percentage of the respondents (%)
NTFP type	Unit	KhTE	CTE	Bajartal	KATE	Total
Twigs and branches (fuelwood)	Stake (1 stake=5 kg)	27.1	22.9	25.7	24.3	39.3
Tree poles (fuelwood+other uses)	Piece	7.1	25.0	35.7	32.1	15.7
Split wood (fuelwood)	Bundle (1 bundle=5 kg)	34.0	28.0	22.0	16.0	28.1
Bamboo (fuelwood+other uses)	Bundle (2-5 pieces)	32.5	27.5	20.0	20.0	22.5
Rattan	Bundle (5-10 pieces)	27.5	30.0	32.5	10.0	22.5
I. cylindrica and T. maxima	Stake (1 stake=5 kg)	34.6	25.9	17.3	22.2	45.5
Medicinal plants, seasonal fruits and seeds, fodder, and vegetables	-	54.3	35.5	35.1	30.0	41.6