Non Timber Forest Products

Forschungs-
projekt

Entwicklung von Aufnahme- und Auswertungsmethoden für Nicht-Holz-Produkte in off-reserve forest in Ghana (F. Bih/Ch. Kutzer/D. R. Pelz)

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs), a term used to describe all products derived from biological resources found on forest land but not including timber. This may include species used for fuelwood but other term like non wood forest products (NWFPs) excludes fuelwood. Products like bamboo, rattan, raffia, resin, fruits and nuts, herbs etc. which come under these category of forest products were formerly classified as 'minor' forest products due to the insignificant value placed on them by foresters. Nevertheless, NTFPs have of late attracted increased attention due to the rediscovery of their major role in the nutritional, health, economic and socio-cultural lives of rural people.

However, resource assessment of NTFPs in the tropics is relatively new and has received little formal study; consequently methodologies have been developed by individual researchers in response to local circumstances and the peculiarities of the resource under study (Wong, 2000). Conventional inventory designs made to assess timber have often been used to assess NTFPs. As has been noted by Wong 2000, these conventional forest inventory designs seem not to be efficient for assessing NTFPs due to the variability of NTFPs. This study would therefore try to develop a more efficient method of assessing some selected NTFPs outside forest reserves in a forest district of Ghana.

Selection of the species would be on the basis of their utilisation and potential for income generation through a community and market survey. Three sampling methods- Systematic Strip sampling, Adaptive cluster sampling and ranked set sampling, would be tested on the selected NTFPs in a pilot study. The methods would then be compared on the basis of relative precision and cost. The most efficient method would be used for the assessments of the selected NTFPs in the forest district. Results would be displayed both quantitatively and spatially.

This study is part of a Tropenbos International project (Geo information applications for off-reserve tree management in Goaso district, Ghana (GORTMAN) of which the Department of Forest Biometry of the University of Freiburg, I.T.C. in the Netherlands and the University of Ghana are partners.