Managing the Miombo Woodlands of Southern Africa Policies, incentives and options
|
|  Yüklə 2.25 Mb.
|
3.2
The dominant feature of the landscape in both study sites are the vast tracks of miombo woodland, punctuated by stretches of open grassland on the plains. Forest resources play a central role in people’s livelihoods. Firewood and charcoal provides energy to all the households in the study areas while a wide range of non-timber products that include honey, mushrooms, fruits, medicinal plants, thatching grass and game meat are extracted for subsistence use and sale. Close to 75% of the sampled households in Mufulira reported some of their highest cash income from charcoal sold in nearby towns and on the roadside. In Kabompo the woodlands remain largely intact due to low population pressure and limited influence from outside. More than 95% of the households walk less than 5 minutes to the edge of the nearest forest where they collect most products. Kabompo district is renowned as the source of the high quality organic honey which fetches good prices on the export market. The district is also a source of high value hardwood timber that is sold locally and also exported to South Africa. However, only 4% of the households in the sample reported income from timber harvesting due to the high start-up costs associated with getting timber to the markets. Cropland is a highly valuable resource in both study sites and 97% of the households in the sample own cropland, averaging 3.7 hectares. Maize was ranked as the major crop by about 64% of the households. Other important crops include cassava, groundnuts, beans, sweet potato and a variety of vegetables. 3.3Physical assetsInfrastructure such as roads, water sources, schools and clinics are in relatively good state in Mufulira compared to Kabompo. All the villages in the sample in Mufulira are located less than 5 km from a tarred road that links them with an urban centre. Kabompo is linked to the nearest urban centre Solwezi, 370 km away, by a gravel road that is often in a deplorable state. During the rainy season a bus ride to town can easily take two days as the condition of the road further deteriorates, with some sections becoming almost impassable by most cars. The poor connection with other parts of the country has limited trade of locally produced goods to mainly local transactions within the district. Access to other facilities like clinics and schools is also severely limited in Kabompo with most households having to travel as much as 60 km to the nearest service centre. Ownership of productive assets among households in both sites is very low, compromising ability to undertake key activities such as land preparation and transportation of goods. For example only about 2% of households reported owning a plough. Perhaps an indicator of the importance of forests in local livelihoods is the significant number of households owning ripping saws (5%) The most popular asset is a radio which was reported in about 54% of the households. Bicycles are also very important as a means of transport and are widely owned (40%). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||