Forests Sourcebook - HCV Resource Network

Box 1.23
Market Analysis and Development in Community Forests of The Gambia
The Gambia has 264 Community Forest Committees
(CFCs), 22 of which are developing their markets
and managing their forests using the Market Analysis
and Development (MA&D) methodology through a
joint project of the Gambian government and the
Food and Agriculture Organization. The MA&D program
is a three-phase program that trains and
empowers community members to identify and
develop successful forest enterprises and learn to
manage them independently. MA&D enables communities
to link forest management and conservation
activities directly to income-generating opportunities,
and in the Gambian case it has also
encouraged substantial diversification of marketable
forest products. The program emphasizes sustainable
institutional development for the community enterprises
and extensive networking between businesses
and local organizations. In The Gambia, 22 CFCs
have used MA&D methodology to develop 72 community
enterprises.
Some of the communities now involved in successful
enterprises have been entitled to commercialize
community forest products since 1992 but, before the
MA&D training, were hesitant to do anything other
than protect their forests, or were repeatedly cheated by
middlemen or Forestry Department staff.
The communities produce 11 different products
from their forests, including fuelwood, logs and timber,
honey, palm handicrafts, Netto fruits, oil palm fruits,
and tree nurseries. Through program-sponsored artisan
workshops, community members have learned
skills to craft new products from their forests, especially
beds, sofas, and chairs that are then sold to local
ecotourism lodges and hotels in the coastal tourism
area. Profits from beekeeping are expected to account
for 15 percent of their total yearly profits.
Source: Molnar and others 2006.
management services, organizational support, and technical
assistance, to link conservation of forest resources
with processing of forest products (see box 1.23), market
information, insurance, and marketing and financial
assistance (see box 1.25).
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Conduct research, education, and training so that community
forestry enterprises can better adapt to new
trends in production, processing, and management.
Improve government support and extension services for
forest smallholders.
Box 1.24
Strategic Partnerships in Southern Africa
In the remote district of Rushinga in northeastern Zimbabwe,
an individual runs a company called Creative
Oils that produces oil from the seeds of the baobab.
Creative Oils currently purchases six tons of seed per
month from 60 rural producers. Rural producers can
earn as much as $180 in a season, which is double their
income from cotton, the staple cash crop. The owner of
Creative Oils earns nearly $9,000 a season from the 360
liters of oil the company produces a month.
This success is due largely to an involvement with
PhytoTrade Africa, the Southern African Natural Products
Trade Association. In 2003, PhytoTrade Africa
signed a joint venture agreement with a French company
specializing in the production of derivatives from
natural plant oils for sale as cosmetic ingredients. The
French company purchases baobab oil from Creative
Oils, which it then processes and sells to the multinational
company Bergasol, for incorporation into a new
sunscreen for sale in Europe.
There are many products like baobab oil, derived
from indigenous plant species in rural Africa and having
significant commercial potential. For small-scale
producers, however, the barriers to developing markets
for these products are formidable. The owner of Creative
Oils has successfully overcome these barriers by
pooling resources with producers from across southern
Africa and helping create a powerful trade association
to represent their interests.
Source: Campbell and others 2004.
NOTE 1.5: MAKING MARKETS WORK FOR THE FOREST-DEPENDENT POOR 59