Promotion of NTFPs: an effective means of conservation-local development integration

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Category : NTFP

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are products of trees and shrubs except wood. So these are fruits, leaves, bark, etc. NTFPs benefiting from NATUDEV support initiatives are those that the populations it supports intend to promote in the long term.

The promotion of NTFPs is justified by their function as alternative sources of food and income for producers and their households. NTFPs thus allow producers not to indulge in unsustainable uses that are harmful to protected areas and natural heritage sites (poaching, logging, non-ecological agriculture, etc.).

The NTFPs concerned by NATUDEV’s actions to date are: shea butter and its derivatives (soaps, ointments, etc.), honey and its derivatives (beeswax). Significant potential in baobab fruit, balanites, néré, liana, tamarind, detarium have been highlighted for future valuations.

A thousand local promoters within the local communities are active in the supported sectors and garner, individually or collectively, very appreciable income.

ULB-Cooperation, Man and Nature and the PPI program are the main supports of the populations through NATUDEV in the development of the non-wood forest products sectors, supports which have made it possible to achieve significant advances, among which:

the regrouping of certain producers in cooperatives

Developing female beekeeping Towards the emergence of a beekeeping area in the heart of the PONASI ecological complex (number of beekeepers and beehives and competent croissants …)

Conclusive innovations in hive types

Obtaining a quality label for honey (national certification)

A marketing platform open to producers

An efficient sales system

A recognized NTFP-

Conservation of forest resources link

An obvious contribution to the improvement of incomes, social bonds, the assumption of health and school fees among beekeepers.