Contribution of Non-Timber Forest Products on The Livelihoods of Rural Communities around Gedo Forest, Chelia District, and West Shewa Zone, Ethiopia

Abstract

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are the huge variety of materials derived from forests excluding timber and fuel wood which include fruits, nuts, fungi, fibers, medicinal and ornamental plants, mosses, dyes, resins, gums, fuel-wood, charcoal, leaves as fodder, poles for local construction, honey, syrup, fish, and game, as well as other animal products. However, it is imperative to clearly understand how muchnon-timber forest products (NTFPs), have great socio-economic contributions that they make to rural livelihoods in order to design policies, interventions, and business ventures that serve to safeguard forest assets for the poor in a targeted manner. The aim of this study was assessing the contribution of non-timber forest products in rural communities’ livelihoods around Gedo Forest, Chelia District, West Shewa Zone, Ethiopia. The study employed descriptive and cross sectional type of research approaches and survey research design. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the sample households for the study. Accordingly, Chobi, Alle, Hula Dhabi, Raffiso Alenga, and Sokondo kebeles were selected from the area. At the second stage, two villages were purposively selected from each kebele. Therefore, eight villages were selected for the study. Finally, simple random sampling was used to select households from selected village. Accordingly, a total of 320 households were randomly selected from the list of households in the study area.The gathered data were analyze by using SPSS version24 software. Descriptive statistics was employed to analyze and summarize the data reported on non-timber forest products and role of non-timber forest product as income source. Data on the factors that influence respondents’ income from NTFP was analysed using multiple linear regression analysis. Result indicated socio demographic characteristics namely Gender, Age, Education Level of the HH, Distances to Forest, HH Wealth status and Land holding size of the households have positive and significant relationships on income derived from NTFPs. Hence, local communities should be actively involved in forest management and conservation, for sustainable use of the forest resources, including NTFPs. Moreover, government bodies or NGOs should work to provide alternative livelihoods that generate incomes to forest dependent communities in the study area.