Changing Role of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) in Rural Household Economy: The Case of Sinharaja World Heritage Site in Sri Lanka

Abstract

This paper examines the modified patterns of utilizing non-timber forest products (NTFP) and associated behavioral changes around tropical forest areas in the context of conservation-related objectives and other commercially driven objectives. Our study introduces a conceptual framework based on the household production theory and tests empirically the hypotheses drawn at Sinharaja World Heritage in Sri Lanka. The results show that conditions introduced by forest conservation programs and the spread of small-scale commercial tea cultivation are transforming the economy around Sinharaja. The process is an economically rational one where resident communities decide upon their actions based on the opportunity cost of time involved with NTFP in the absence of observable prices. Although the process, overall, has led to a decline in the role of NTFP in the household economy, its impact over different NTFP are not uniform, leaving sustained demand for certain NTFP. This situation calls for a multifaceted approach in forest management programs to address the various household needs fulfilled by NTFP-based activities.

The role of non-timber forest products during agroecosystem shift in Xishuangbanna, southwestern China

“…However, the importance of NTFPs to livelihoods declined with the spread of commercial smallholder rubber plantations. Similarly, the spread of small-scale commercial tea cultivation plants has transformed the economy around Sinharaja in Sri Lanka, and led to a decline in the role of NTFPs in the household economy (Senaratne et al, 2003), with tea plantation and NTFPs extraction activities competing for time allocations (Gopalakrishnan et al, 2005).…”

“…Thus, what kind of role that NTFPs could play in the process of the shifting from a subsistence agroecosystem to a cash-crop dominated system was totally under explored. The spread of small-scale commercial tea cultivation plants has transformed the economy around Sinharaja in Sri Lanka, and led to a decline in the role of NTFPs in the household economy (Senaratne et al, 2003). NTFPs collection allows households with less agricultural land to reach comparable levels of income to households with more agricultural land (Wickramasinghe et al, 1996).…”

Globalised forest-products: commodification of the matsutake mushroom in Tibetan villages, Yunnan, Southwest China

“…As such, many scholars have proposed exploitation of NTFPs, and mushrooms in particular, as a way to make forest conservation economically sustainable for local communities (Kusters and Belcher 2004;Yang et al 2008;He et al 2009; see also Neumann and Hirsch 2000;cf Belcher and Schreckenberg 2007). Studies of land-use change in the lowlands of this region and elsewhere in the world, however, suggest that the introduction of cash crops and the accompanying increase in rural incomes tend to undermine local interest in NTFPs (Neumann and Hirsch 2000;Senaratne et al 2003;Gopalakrishnan et al 2005;Fu et al 2009) and thereby reduce incentives to conserve forest biodiversity and ecosystem services. This suggests that the ongoing introduction and expansion of cash crops in the Greater Mekong could have a significant detrimental impact on the region's ecosystems, and therefore on the sustainability of livelihoods and development in this mountainous region.…”

The Effect of China’s New Circular Collective Forest Tenure Reform on Household Non-Timber Forest Product Production in Natural Forest Protection Project Regions

“…High opportunity costs from forestry production usually tend to decrease farmers' forestry production and therefore also the production of NTFP [36]. Additionally, the available labour force may constrain forestry production.…”