Consumption of Forest Products in Small Households At Village Forest Reserves in Tanzania: A Case Study of Mgori Forest Reserve in Singida District

Abstract

This paper is founded on a study that examined the consumption of forest products from village forest reserves which are under Participatory Forest Management (PFM) paradigm in households. Mgori forest reserve was taken as the case study. Emphasis was made on how much households save from direct consumption of forest products. PFM is a newly introduced approach in Tanzania, as well as in other countries in Southern Africa, with the main objective of conserving forest resources and improving livelihoods of local communities. Many studies have been done on a tradeoff between PFM and livelihoods in Tanzania, but little information is available on the direct consumption of forest products extracted from the reserves and their respective costs accruing to households. This study tries to provide such information. The study used a cross-sectional research design by administering a questionnaire to 240 households that were selected randomly. Findings of the study show that the consumption of forest products was significantly substituting costs that the households were supposed to incur in consuming the products. The most important forest products were firewood and food related items. The study concludes that forest products from village reserves contribute to improved welfare of households, which in turn act as incentives to communities to conserve forest reserves.