Contribution of Baobab Production Activities to Household Livelihoods.

IES Working paper.Baobab production activities play a crucial role in contributing to the livelihoods of rural households. In the face of increasing village populations, commercial use of baobab has been steadily increasing to the point where currently, 43% of sampled households participate in baobab production activities. Commercial use of baobab products is especially important to the poorer households arid women. In terms of contributing to household livelihoods, baobab activities are ranked second only to some kinds of agricultural production. Numerical estimates of contribution to livelihoods bear out this result with cash income of approximately Z$5000 per annum received for each participating person, well above the official minimum wage. Opportunity costs of labour make up about four-fifths of this value, leaving one-fifth of the cash income accruing as economic rent. The rent available to households seems to vary widely, as there are households that are well located close to baobab trees, which greatly reduces production costs and increases economic rents captured. The importance of baobabs to livelihoods, combined with the potential ecological importance of these trees in contributing to biodiversity, makes the sustainability of this resource vital. Accordingly, if current use rates are not sustainable (see Romero et al., (in prep) there is scope for investigations into policies and management options that could foster sustainable use

Performance of some multipurpose tree species: the Forestry Commission experience.

Rural afforestation in Zimbabwe has been heavily reliant on the genus Eucalyptus. Limited success has been achieved with these species in semi-arid areas. To broaden the species range and provide a wider product range, the Forestry Commission of Zimbabwe has been conducting on-station screening of African and Australian acacias. Of the African acacias, Faidherbia albida and Acacia tortilis exhibited high survival rates within the first year. Of the Australian acacias, Acacia auriculiformis succumbed to termite attacks except at Chesa and Acacia holosericea and Acacia colei appeared to be less susceptible to termite attack. Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Eucalyptus leptophleba and Eucalyptus tereticornis had better survival percentages than the acacia species tested. There are some indications that some acacia species, given more testing, can be selected for afforestation purposes in areas where eucalypts have been traditionally used. In Shurugwi, an evaluation of the performance of some multipurpose tree species planted out by farmers was carried out at eight years. The mortality of the tree species on-farm was variable, ranging from 39 to 64% in 1991 and 2 to 54% in 1996. Leucaena leucocephala, A. holosericea, Melia azedarach and Senna atomaria had the greatest growth and biomass production. Farmers preferred L. leucocephala and Casuarina cunninghamiana, which was correlated to their ability to produce useful poles. It is recommended that research that develops cost-effective strategies to improve survival levels of planted trees should be supported and alternative pole producing species should be made available to small holder farmers. Transactions of the Zimbabwe Scientific Association Volume 72 (Supplement) 1998, pp. 10-1

Deforestation in Zimbabwe's communal lands Perceptions of forest resource scarcity and value

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:4126.581(135) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo