Trees for Food and Timber: are community interests in conflict with those of timber concessions in the Congo Basin?

Much of the Congo Basin is managed for timber from dozens of species. More than 60% also produce non-timber products, including foods. For five multiple use tree species in Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Gabon (Entandrophragma cylindricum, Baillonella toxisperma, Erythrophleum suaveloens, Dacryodes buettneri and Gambeya lacourtiana), we studied gathering and consumption by communities, edible caterpillars hosted, the densities of trees around villages and in concessions and the impacts of timber harvesting . We also studied the consumption of forest foods and the nutritional values of fruits and seeds of various tree species. Villagers walked up to six km during day trips to collect fruits or caterpillars, gathering from concessions if the village was within or near it. When foods were gathered from trees smaller than the cutting diameter (which varied by country and species), there was no conflict with timber harvesting. However, the volume of edible caterpillars hosted increased with diameter and harvestable trees were the most productive. Caterpillars, tree fruits and seeds provide fats, vitamins and minerals that complement agricultural foods. Densities of B. toxisperma, valued for its edible oil, were higher around villages than in concessions. The proportion of commercial trees harvested for timber varied from less than 3% to more than 50%, depending on the species. Different species had different geneflow distances, meaning viable regeneration could be expected with residual adults at different maximum distances. E. cylindricum had more effective dispersal than E. suaveolens. The production of timber and nontimber products can be sustained from the same concessions, for different stakeholders, with appropriate practices and arrangements

Farm households food production and households’ food security status: A case of Kahama District, Tanzania

Tanzania Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 2014; 13(2): 40-58Food is an important basic human need for survival, growth, and good health. Most rural households in Tanzania, Kahama district inclusive produce the food they consume. Despite this reality, a number of households in the district suffer from food insecurity. However, there are inequalities across the district’s ecological zones and administrative divisions. Therefore, the paper aims at determining how farming households in Kahama District cope with food insecurity. Specifically, the paper determines food security status based on Dietary Energy Consumed (DEC) per Adult Equivalent (AE) per day, identifies households’ food insecurity coping strategies and examines factors influencing food production and supply. The paper uses data collected through a survey of 150 randomly selected farm households in Msalala and Isagehe divisions. In addition, some qualitative information on crop production, food security situation and households’ food insecurity coping strategies was collected through focus group discussions (FDGs) conducted in the surveyed villages. Generally, observations based on the 24 hours recall and household income expenditure survey (HIES) indicate that food insecurity existed among households in the study areas based on the recommended average DEC/AE, of 2200 kcal and 2100 kcal respectively. Binary regression analysis results show that five predictors were significantly (P ≤ 0.05) associated with surveyed households’ food security/insecurity. Multiple regression analysis results further show that, total annual income, the amount of maize and paddy produced, household size, the number of plots owned, and the number of cattle owned significantly influenced the surveyed households’ food production and supply. Observations further show that most households rely on less preferred foods as a food insecurity copying strategy. The paper concludes that food insecurity existed among farming households in the study area. It is therefore recommended that, farming households adopt drought resistant food crops, diversify into off-farm income generating activities and that village extension officers (VEO’s) and community development officers (CDO’s ) play a more active role to enable households achieve food security

Farm households food production and households’ food security status: A Case of Kahama District, Tanzania

Tanzania Journal of Agricultural Sciences 2014, Vol. 13(2) :PP 40-58Food is an important basic human need for survival, growth, and good health. Most rural households in Tanzania, Kahama district inclusive produce the food they consume. Despite this reality, a number of households in the district suffer from food insecurity. However, there are inequalities across the district’s ecological zones and administrative divisions. Therefore, the paper aims at determining how farming households in Kahama District cope with food insecurity. Specifically, the paper determines food security status based on Dietary Energy Consumed (DEC) per Adult Equivalent (AE) per day, identifies households’ food insecurity coping strategies and examines factors influencing food production and supply. The paper uses data collected through a survey of 150 randomly selected farm households in Msalala and Isagehe divisions. In addition, some qualitative information on crop production, food security situation and households’ food insecurity coping strategies was collected through focus group discussions (FDGs) conducted in the surveyed villages. Generally, observations based on the 24 hours recall and household income expenditure survey (HIES) indicate that food insecurity existed among households in the study areas based on the recommended average DEC/AE, of 2200 kcal and 2100 kcal respectively. Binary regression analysis results show that five predictors were significantly (P ≤ 0.05) associated with surveyed households’ food security/insecurity. Multiple regression analysis results further show that, total annual income, the amount of maize and paddy produced, household size, the number of plots owned, and the number of cattle owned significantly influenced the surveyed households’ food production and supply. Observations further show that most households rely on less preferred foods as a food insecurity copying strategy. The paper concludes that food insecurity existed among farming households in the study area. It is therefore recommended that, farming households adopt drought resistant food crops, diversify into off-farm income generating activities and that village extension officers (VEO’s) and communitY development officers (CDO’s ) play a more active role to enable households achieve food security

Farm households food production and households’ food security status: A Case of Kahama District, Tanzania

Tanzania Journal of Agricultural Sciences 2014, Vol. 13(2) :PP 40-58Food is an important basic human need for survival, growth, and good health. Most rural households in Tanzania, Kahama district inclusive produce the food they consume. Despite this reality, a number of households in the district suffer from food insecurity. However, there are inequalities across the district’s ecological zones and administrative divisions. Therefore, the paper aims at determining how farming households in Kahama District cope with food insecurity. Specifically, the paper determines food security status based on Dietary Energy Consumed (DEC) per Adult Equivalent (AE) per day, identifies households’ food insecurity coping strategies and examines factors influencing food production and supply. The paper uses data collected through a survey of 150 randomly selected farm households in Msalala and Isagehe divisions. In addition, some qualitative information on crop production, food security situation and households’ food insecurity coping strategies was collected through focus group discussions (FDGs) conducted in the surveyed villages. Generally, observations based on the 24 hours recall and household income expenditure survey (HIES) indicate that food insecurity existed among households in the study areas based on the recommended average DEC/AE, of 2200 kcal and 2100 kcal respectively. Binary regression analysis results show that five predictors were significantly (P ≤ 0.05) associated with surveyed households’ food security/insecurity. Multiple regression analysis results further show that, total annual income, the amount of maize and paddy produced, household size, the number of plots owned, and the number of cattle owned significantly influenced the surveyed households’ food production and supply. Observations further show that most households rely on less preferred foods as a food insecurity copying strategy. The paper concludes that food insecurity existed among farming households in the study area. It is therefore recommended that, farming households adopt drought resistant food crops, diversify into off-farm income generating activities and that village extension officers (VEO’s) and communitY development officers (CDO’s ) play a more active role to enable households achieve food security

Farm households food production and households’ food security status: A case of Kahama District, Tanzania

Tanzania Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 2014; 13(2): 40-58Food is an important basic human need for survival, growth, and good health. Most rural households in Tanzania, Kahama district inclusive produce the food they consume. Despite this reality, a number of households in the district suffer from food insecurity. However, there are inequalities across the district’s ecological zones and administrative divisions. Therefore, the paper aims at determining how farming households in Kahama District cope with food insecurity. Specifically, the paper determines food security status based on Dietary Energy Consumed (DEC) per Adult Equivalent (AE) per day, identifies households’ food insecurity coping strategies and examines factors influencing food production and supply. The paper uses data collected through a survey of 150 randomly selected farm households in Msalala and Isagehe divisions. In addition, some qualitative information on crop production, food security situation and households’ food insecurity coping strategies was collected through focus group discussions (FDGs) conducted in the surveyed villages. Generally, observations based on the 24 hours recall and household income expenditure survey (HIES) indicate that food insecurity existed among households in the study areas based on the recommended average DEC/AE, of 2200 kcal and 2100 kcal respectively. Binary regression analysis results show that five predictors were significantly (P ≤ 0.05) associated with surveyed households’ food security/insecurity. Multiple regression analysis results further show that, total annual income, the amount of maize and paddy produced, household size, the number of plots owned, and the number of cattle owned significantly influenced the surveyed households’ food production and supply. Observations further show that most households rely on less preferred foods as a food insecurity copying strategy. The paper concludes that food insecurity existed among farming households in the study area. It is therefore recommended that, farming households adopt drought resistant food crops, diversify into off-farm income generating activities and that village extension officers (VEO’s) and community development officers (CDO’s ) play a more active role to enable households achieve food security