Valuation of Non Timber Forest Product in Cameroon: Case of a Community Forest in the East Region

The collection and sale of non-timber forest products (NTFPSs) is a major source of income for households around community (CF) in Cameroon. Although, the importance of NTFPs in sustaining livelihood and poverty smoothening in rural communities, they are highly depleted and poorly conserved. Indeed, the forests where NTFPs are harvested are becoming depleted due to unsustainable exploitation of timber and NTFPs, lack of financial resources to protect the forest and this is threatening the livelihood of those households. To address this issue, sustainable harvesting practices must be adopted and financial resources must be mobilize by households holding the CF. Therefore, this study applied the contingent valuation method by estimating the average willingness to pay (WTP) and the minimum price the households are willing to pay to protect NTFPs. Sixty household surveys from eight villages were undertaken at Morikouali-ye CF in the East Region of Cameroon. To estimate the average WTP for NTFPs sustainable management at the CF level, the study use the logit model and for the minimum price the households are willing to pay, the Turnbull estimator was used. Our findings showed that, the average WTP is 6845.2861 FCFA per household each year and 570.440 FCFA per household each month. Furthermore, the minimum price the households are willing to pay to protect the forest product is 4940 FCFA per household each year and 411.667 FCFA per household each month. The fact that households are willing to pay to protect forest product like NTFPs reflects the high importance of the NTFPs in their daily lives: nutrition, income and health. Therefore, to enhance NTFPs sustainable harvest methods among CF households, it is important to mobilize financial resources, organize and teach NTFPs sustainable harvest methods. Improve traditional use of the forests and promote alternative plants for the same uses should be considered as part of conservation strategies. Moreover, it is suggested that incentives like financial resources should be giving to CF forest protection team members to be more actively involved in sustainable harvest monitoring.