Despite the roles and functions of natural forests on the livelihood of the rural communities, their economic values are poorly reflected in market considerations and largely ignored in the decision-making process. There is inadequate empirical evidence detailing forest management preferences in developing countries, including Volcanoes National Park (VNP) in Rwanda. VNP has a considerable contribution to Rwandan rural livelihood, global environmental protection and cultural heritage. This study aimed at assessing the monetary values farmers attached to VNP. A Choice Experiment approach and Conditional Logit model were used for a sample of 192 farmers living along the park corridor using a semi-structured questionnaire. Data obtained were analyzed using Nlogit 3.0. The results showed that farmers preferred to improve the current VNP management and were willing to pay for its participatory management attributes. Farmers’ characteristics significantly influenced preferences. The findings have an implication on programmes that improve the current park management and on the design of vocational, farmer groups and gender-based environmental awareness and promotional programs.
Purpose
Policymakers and stakeholders lack empirical evidence on the effectiveness of community participatory management for agribusiness development and environmental conservation. The purpose of this paper is to assess the management preferences, approaches and practices of farm communities in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park (VNP).
Design/methodology/approach
Primary data collected from 191 farmers were used. A choice experiment on current and potential park management practices and utilization levels was conducted along with a survey on socioeconomic, farm and institutional behavior characteristics.
Findings
Results show that farmers prefer preserving VNP resources for the production of agribusiness crops that are low input and environmental friendly and provide high income to farmers in addition to handcraft production to enhance cultural, plant and wild animal tourism development. Farmers highly value integrated stakeholder participatory decision making about the parks natural resources. High-income farmers prefer to restore traditional cultural heritage park sites for recreation, and ancestral intellectual and cultural property rights.
Research limitations/implications
The sample size limited the analysis to a conditional logit model.
Originality/value
This is the first study to assess the management preferences of farm communities in the VNP area.
Soil and water conservation (SWC) technologies contribute to sustainable agriculture and rural poverty reduction. Yet, the relationship between farm household income and SWC investment is not well-understood in Rwanda. This study aims to assess the effects of investing in SWC on household income and improve the knowledge of how various classes of smallholders can benefit from such an investment at a farm level. The study used survey data from 422 farming households in northern Rwanda’s Burera, Gakenke and Musanze districts. Descriptive analysis was employed to determine levels of use of SWC and SF measures. Quantile estimation classified three classes of farming households: the poor, middle-income earners and the rich. Instrumental variable quantile regression was adopted to assess heterogeneous effects of financing SWC investment. The results revealed that the extent of using SWC and SF measures is generally low. Agriculture income and off-farm (casual) wages had the largest income shares among the poor and middle-income earners. Financing investment in SWC increases income significantly for middle-income earners, i.e. five times more than the poor, but it was ineffective for the wealthy. Socio-economic factors and commercial crops had a significant effect on income across the classes. Institutional factors demonstrated no significant impact on the poor and middle-income earners. The findings suggest that incorporating pro-poor interventions in SWC investment would increase the productivity and commercialisation of cash and staple crops. These results inform a need to promote linkages between SWC investment and income diversification strategies to increase asset-building for the poor and close income gaps among the three farming classes. This finding suggests the need to introduce saving and lending innovations in SWC that link farm activities to nonfarm opportunities.
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