Economic Contribution of Non-timber Forest Products (NTFPs) to Rural Livelihoods in the Tharawady District of Myanmar

Abstract

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) income plays an important role in the household economy in the rural forest dwelling communities. This study use the data from 60 sample households of the three villages in Tharwady District of Myanmar to analysis the significant of NTFPs income in the rural household economy. Data collection was carried out through face to face household interview, focus group discussion, and government official interview. This study found that NTFPs income contributes 44.37%, and farm income and non-farm income contribute 32.55% and 23.07% to the total household income respectively. The lower and middle income level households derived more NTFPs income than high income level households. For low income households, share of NTFPs income in the total household income is over 75%. Major NTFPs include bamboo, thatch, firewood, charcoal, bamboo shoot, broom grass, bark and root, and others. Regression analysis showed that farm income, nonfarm income and agricultural land own are scientifically and negatively correlated with the NTFPs incomes. This study suggests that Community Forestry (CF) programmes together with extension and environmental education programmes should be encouraged in order to reduce dependence on the natural forests. In considering the CF programmes it should be encouraged the participation of low and middle income household.

Economic Contribution and Inequality Mitigation of Wicker Handicraft Entrepreneurship in Rural Kashmir, India

“…Nonetheless, the subsequent occupation and gross annual income of the wicker handicraft entrepreneurs have direct influences on economic development through wicker handicraft, the households with higher subsequent occupation and gross annual income can organize large scale manufacture of wicker handicrafts while the families having lower subsequent occupation and gross annual income can hardly support small scale manufacture of wicker handicrafts only. The results were in consistent with other studies [27][28][29][30][31][32][33] from elsewhere which established that the socioeconomic factors statistically and significantly influenced the household forestbased industrial income dependence.…”

“…Nonetheless, the nditions of the wicker handicraft entrepreneurs is far away from the desired level, there is still much scope to improve their quality of life through intervention of specific livelihood diversification strategies. studies [27][28][29][30][31][32][33] across the world have shown the low socioeconomic conditions in the communities heavily reliant on the forest-based industries their livelihood security.…”

Household Dependency on Buffer Zone Community Forest and its Implication for Management of Chitwan National Park, Nepal

“…Altogether 37.69% of the respondents were illiterate and 10.77 % respondents only had the access to the "upper level" schools and colleges. In addition, according to the age categorized by Mehta and Heinen (2001), younger (16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35), middle-aged (36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49)(50)(51)(52)(53)(54)(55), and older ( ≤ 56): 27.69, 44.62 and 27.69 % of the respondents were younger, middle-aged and older respectively. The main wildlife raiding the agriculture crop were one-horned rhinoceros, forest cow and wild boar.…”

Model of sustainable private forest management in Yogyakarta Special Regency, Indonesia

“…Forest resources play an important role in the livelihoods of local communities for various products. Forest function as the main source of primary and secondary income for rural household (Moe et al 2016;Langan et al, 2016;Hlaing et al, 2017;Toe et al 2017). Local communities do business in the forest with a pattern that has become a culture of society with an orientation of economic and social needs, while environmental aspects are often an obstacle due to the limited ability of local communities.…”

“…Local communities do business in the forest with a pattern that has become a culture of society with an orientation of economic and social needs, while environmental aspects are often an obstacle due to the limited ability of local communities. Furthermore, Moe et al (2016) stated that community forestry (CF) programs should be encouraged to reduce dependence on natural forest. CF programs must be driven by participation of low and middle income household.…”