Community forestry and Rural livelihood

RABINDRA ROY

The community and private forest ry programmes are the largest component programme of the Master Plan for the Forestry Sector and is expected to absorb 47 percentage of all investment in the sector until 2010. Under the programme, ‘all accessible hill forests’ is to be handed over to the local communities. The potential area for Community Forest (CF) in Nepal is 3,561,600 hectors (61 percentage) of the total National forests. The handing over process of CF has achieved a considerable progress. As of January 15, 2003, 940,491 (26.41percentage) hector of forest area was handed over to 11,860 Forest User Groups, which will benefit 1,311,771 households.

The CF program was launched in Nepal two and a half decades ago to make people participation on various forest activities. People, no doubt, have been receiving direct and indirect benefits from the forests. Forest is a renewable natural resource, which provides a wide range of socioeconomic, environmental, and cultural benefits and services. This is common that the rural people are dependent on forest for various products to fulfil their basic needs such as fuel wood, pole, fodder, leaf-litter, fruit, and medicinal plants and to provide other services that are essential inputs into the farming system. Forest provides mineral nutrients and energy that are essential for farming system.

CF has a great potentiality to generate substantial economic benefits to the local communities at household levels and to support community development. However, they are being implemented in the small scale. If the market develops, this situation could be changed. Therefore, there is a need to plan such activities in a large scale that could shift them from subsistence level to the market level for better quality for the rural people, especially for the lower income groups. The shift will result from the increased availability of fuel wood for cooking and heating; more feed for livestock, which in terms will provide more milk, meat, hide and dung for food production; more timber for shelter.

A research study was conducted in the Gaukhureshwor CF user Group (FUG) of Kavrepalanchwok district in 1999. The FUG lies in Dhulikhel Municipality of ward-number 01, east of Dhulikhel town. The CF was handed over in December 1995. The forest area is 21.5 ha consisting of 35 households as users that is dominated by Chilaune (Schima wallichii) and Katus (Castanopsis tribuloides), and provides habitat to jackal, leopard, jungle cat and squirrel. According to the Audit Reports of the Gaukhureshwor CF, the user group earned about Rs. 252 thousands during the period of three years (1996/97 to 1998/99). The people have used the CF income for adult literacy programmes, installation of electricity poles in Gaukhureshwor Ghat for religious purposes, purchase of a stretcher for emergency services, petrol-max lamp, and additional support to victims of natural disaster.

The users have made rules and regulation for the management and utilisation of forest products. The forest is open for 28 days every year from mid-November to mid-March to collect one load per household of firewood a day. The users get seasonal employment in different activities in the CF such as in nursery, plantation, weeding, value added processing of Japanese lokta (Edigworthia popyrifeba) and alaichi (Amomum subulatum). As for the socio-economic stratification of the forest user group Brahmin (46 percentage) dominates the group. The second dominant caste is Chhetri (37 percentage) followed by Thakuri, Thami and Giri. The economic status of the users was classified as rich (9 percentage), medium (85 percentage) and poor (6 percentage).

Besides, cash income, the CF has also contributed to increasing greenery, reducing landslides, enhancing drinking water source, and promoting eco-tourism. Extensive forest management practices have increased the quantity of leaf litter, fodder, agricultural implements and water. It has contributed to increasing soil fertility, and crop and livestock products, thereby enhancing per capita income of the users.

Both direct and indirect benefits from the CF have played a great role in changing the behaviour of the rural people. It is good that the farmers are aware about the harmfulness of the fertilizers. They believe that the use of fertilizers does not increase the yield as it does in the first year. Furthermore, it also decreases the soil quality in the long run. The excess use of chemical fertilizer is harmful in the long run as it leaves behind a type of residue in the soil and decreases its fertility. The agricultural land requires a lot of compost if we want to replace the fertilizer, which is time consuming and labour intensive. The availability of leaf litter also depends on the type of forest and its area. This could be the reason why the people in the area have used the compost just to neutralise the soil, which provides almost equal yield in the subsequent year. It has also saved the money of re-fertilizing the land.

A socio-economic benefit study of the CF on rural livelihood was assessed in different sectors, particularly in knowledge and use of improved seeds and soil condition, environment of raising livestock and time consumed by rural women in the different activities. In fact, a comparison in the above-mentioned activities was made before and after the CF launched in the area, which indicates the impact on rural people. The research study has concluded a net saving of 3.625 hours per family per day after the formation of CF user group, resulting to over 46 thousand hours of savings a year for total households. At the rate of 8 hours working day, and Rs. 75 per day, the monetary value reaches Rs. 0.434 million a year. If assumed that all the remaining things are same, a total of Rs 5147.24 million could be earned from the saved time from the 11,860 FUGs per year at the national level.

(The author is an executive member of Nepal Foresters’ Association, Email: royr81@hotmail.com)

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