Priority non-wood forest products in Cherang’any hills Ecosystem

Abstract

Cherang’any forest is one of Kenya’s water towers that the Kenya’s Water Tower Protection and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation (WaTER) programme aims at raising community appreciation of natural forest areas through the promotion of sustainable utilization of non-wood forest products (NWFPs) from the forest. This is however hindered by very scanty information on NWFPs in Ecosystem. In order to bridge the gap, the programme conducted a baseline survey of key non-wood forest products (NWFPs) of socio-economic importance in Cherang’anyforest ecosystem. The survey was done by administrating semi-structured questionnaires on 266 randomly selected respondents and conducting focused group and key-informant interviews. The data was analysed for descriptive statistics using SPSS. The survey revealed that: 98% of the respondents collected, utilized or sold NWFPs to neighbours, the NWFPs that were collected in large quantities included roots and tubers, indigenous fruits, fodder andgums and saps (annual per capita collection ranged between 19 – 80 Kg). Households earned up to KES 66,000 and KES 50,000 from sales of honey and other NWFPs respectively in 2016. It can therefore be concluded that NWFPs play a significant role in the day to day livelihoods of the communities living adjacent to Cherang’anyecosystem and have a potential of reducing poverty level. The earning from the NWFPs and therefore appreciation of the forest by the community can be enhanced through the sustainable commercialization of fodder, roots and tubers, indigenous fruits, gums and saps, vegetables, medicine, and honey.