Forest products monetary contribution to households’ income: A means to improve the livelihood of a low-income rural community in South Ethiopia
Forest products and forest-based activities in Ethiopia play a substantial economic contribution to the livelihoods of rural households. Despite its pivotal role, empirical data are inadequate on forests' monetary contribution across a range of ecological locations and social situation, particu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-11-01
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| Series: | Heliyon |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844023087613 |
| _version_ | 1827615971330752512 |
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| author | Eyasu Chama Simon Shibru Tizazu Gebre Sebsebe Demissew Zerihun Woldu |
| author_facet | Eyasu Chama Simon Shibru Tizazu Gebre Sebsebe Demissew Zerihun Woldu |
| author_sort | Eyasu Chama |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Forest products and forest-based activities in Ethiopia play a substantial economic contribution to the livelihoods of rural households. Despite its pivotal role, empirical data are inadequate on forests' monetary contribution across a range of ecological locations and social situation, particularly for rural agrarian communities of the developing nations, like Ethiopia. We estimated the economic contributions of forest products and forest-based activities to forest-dependent rural households’ income and highlighted key socioeconomic characteristics in Wolaita, Ethiopia. We collected demographic, socioeconomic, and forest use data using a semi-structured questionnaire survey of 384 households, and surveyed markets to determine the prices of forest products for the valuation of forest use in three districts. We used descriptive statistics, the Chi-square test, the two-sample t-test, and one-way ANOVA to analyze the data. Findings showed that all respondents were engaged in one way or another in forest-based activities, while 84.6 % were involved in farming. The annual average income from forest products was 252.7US per household, contributing to 28.1 % of the total yearly average income (989.4US$), and 38.3 % relative forest income (RFI). Annual mean household income from crops was 648.1US$. Average annual household income from grazing, charcoal, firewood, woodcutting, cut-and-carry, NTFP, seed selling, medicinal plants, and seedling selling was 77.3 %, 58.4 %, 50.2 %, 24.1 %, 18.5 %, 12.7 %, 7.1 %, 6.8 % and 5.4 % of the total annual mean income, respectively revealing a significant difference (p < 0.05). Family size, farmland size, distance to the forest, and occupation were the determinants of the contribution of forest products to household income. In general, poor households derive the highest relative forest income implying high dependence of the poorer on forest resources in the study area. The findings provide useful information for developing sustainable forest management policies and strategies to enhance the economic and ecological benefits of forests, and highlight the need for funding projects to pay attention to the specific household variables that affect forest use. Mainstreaming conservation activities in development sectors and integrating development and conservation projects may improve the livelihood of the low-income family in the region. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T09:19:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d28cf8f700224d02ad10474a13616bc3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2405-8440 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T09:19:15Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Heliyon |
| spelling | doaj.art-d28cf8f700224d02ad10474a13616bc32023-12-02T07:02:45ZengElsevierHeliyon2405-84402023-11-01911e21553Forest products monetary contribution to households’ income: A means to improve the livelihood of a low-income rural community in South EthiopiaEyasu Chama0Simon Shibru1Tizazu Gebre2Sebsebe Demissew3Zerihun Woldu4College of Natural Sciences, Biology Department, Arba Minch University, P.O. Box 21, EthiopiaCollege of Natural Sciences, Biology Department, Arba Minch University, P.O. Box 21, Ethiopia; Corresponding author.College of Natural Sciences, Biology Department, Arba Minch University, P.O. Box 21, EthiopiaAddis Ababa University, Department of Plant Biology and Plant Biodiversity Management, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaAddis Ababa University, Department of Plant Biology and Plant Biodiversity Management, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaForest products and forest-based activities in Ethiopia play a substantial economic contribution to the livelihoods of rural households. Despite its pivotal role, empirical data are inadequate on forests' monetary contribution across a range of ecological locations and social situation, particularly for rural agrarian communities of the developing nations, like Ethiopia. We estimated the economic contributions of forest products and forest-based activities to forest-dependent rural households’ income and highlighted key socioeconomic characteristics in Wolaita, Ethiopia. We collected demographic, socioeconomic, and forest use data using a semi-structured questionnaire survey of 384 households, and surveyed markets to determine the prices of forest products for the valuation of forest use in three districts. We used descriptive statistics, the Chi-square test, the two-sample t-test, and one-way ANOVA to analyze the data. Findings showed that all respondents were engaged in one way or another in forest-based activities, while 84.6 % were involved in farming. The annual average income from forest products was 252.7US per household, contributing to 28.1 % of the total yearly average income (989.4US$), and 38.3 % relative forest income (RFI). Annual mean household income from crops was 648.1US$. Average annual household income from grazing, charcoal, firewood, woodcutting, cut-and-carry, NTFP, seed selling, medicinal plants, and seedling selling was 77.3 %, 58.4 %, 50.2 %, 24.1 %, 18.5 %, 12.7 %, 7.1 %, 6.8 % and 5.4 % of the total annual mean income, respectively revealing a significant difference (p < 0.05). Family size, farmland size, distance to the forest, and occupation were the determinants of the contribution of forest products to household income. In general, poor households derive the highest relative forest income implying high dependence of the poorer on forest resources in the study area. The findings provide useful information for developing sustainable forest management policies and strategies to enhance the economic and ecological benefits of forests, and highlight the need for funding projects to pay attention to the specific household variables that affect forest use. Mainstreaming conservation activities in development sectors and integrating development and conservation projects may improve the livelihood of the low-income family in the region.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844023087613EconomicEthiopiaForestsHouseholdsLivelihoodMonetary |
| spellingShingle | Eyasu Chama Simon Shibru Tizazu Gebre Sebsebe Demissew Zerihun Woldu Forest products monetary contribution to households’ income: A means to improve the livelihood of a low-income rural community in South Ethiopia Heliyon Economic Ethiopia Forests Households Livelihood Monetary |
| title | Forest products monetary contribution to households’ income: A means to improve the livelihood of a low-income rural community in South Ethiopia |
| title_full | Forest products monetary contribution to households’ income: A means to improve the livelihood of a low-income rural community in South Ethiopia |
| title_fullStr | Forest products monetary contribution to households’ income: A means to improve the livelihood of a low-income rural community in South Ethiopia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Forest products monetary contribution to households’ income: A means to improve the livelihood of a low-income rural community in South Ethiopia |
| title_short | Forest products monetary contribution to households’ income: A means to improve the livelihood of a low-income rural community in South Ethiopia |
| title_sort | forest products monetary contribution to households income a means to improve the livelihood of a low income rural community in south ethiopia |
| topic | Economic Ethiopia Forests Households Livelihood Monetary |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844023087613 |
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