Opportunities

The study helped to identify a range of livelihood opportunities associated with forestry, including:

• tree production;
• collaborative forest management;
• establishment of tree nurseries;
• agroforestry (fruit, coffee, soil fertility, improved crop production);
• non-wood products (honey, crafts, shea nut oil, medicine, hunting);
• improved marketing and trading in forest products;
• improving technology (charcoal, honey, stoves);
• alternative income sources (crops, cotton); and
• forest ecotourism

It also helped identify the kind of services needed to realise these opportunities:

• Public information, communication and advocacy;
• Inclusion of forestry in local government processes (planning, bye laws);
• Advisory services (organisational, technical, small business development) including development of community extension workers;
• Specialist advice (pathology, securing land tenure, ecotourism);
• Development of new technologies;
• Support on contractual issues (collaborative forest management arrangements);
• Input supply, including quality tree seeds;
• Accessing rural finance; and
• Marketing support (development of new opportunities, market information, business and marketing support, quality standards).

Example: services for tree nurseries