Status, Challenges and Mitigation Strategies of Production of Non Timber Forest Products in Mundemba Municipality, Southwest Region Cameroon

Abstract

Land clearing for plantation and settlement establishment has been a prominent driving force for forest ecosystem destruction. This study aimed at evaluating the status, challenges and mitigation strategies of the selected NTFPs produced and Mark¹eted in the study site. This study was carried out in the municipality of Mundemba South West Region Cameroon. Data were collected with the used of open and close ended questionnaires, key informants interviews and field observations. The questionnaires were divided into IV sections. Section I socio-demographic characteristics, section II on the status of the different NTFPs produced and marketed section III on the challenges and section IV on mitigation strategies. Data were subjected to descriptive analyses and were treated using statistical software program IBM SPSS statistics.  Chi square Pearson test was used to determine the association. Results showed that 59.00 percent were men while 41.00 percent were women. Based on the IUCN red list categories, 6 of the NTFPs were noticed as least concerned, 4 of the NTFP species are near threatened, while none of the species were noticed to be extinct. The main challenge for production was limited land with 51.00 percent while the least challenge of limited knowledge for production was noticed to 2% and was not significantly different(x2cal = 0.593, x2 table value=0.917). The main challenge for marketing was reported as insecurity with 39 % while the least was failure of buyers to keep to time with 8.00 percent and was significantly different (X2cal= 1.052,x2 table value =0.958). The government strategies for mitigating challenges of production and marketing (x2cal =2.988, x2cal =0.224) was significantly different. The major mitigation of road construction had a percentage of 83.00 percent, while the least noticed for mitigations production and marketing was provision of farm inputs with a percentage of 6 %. Therefore, proper management will definitely lead to improve production and marketing of NTFPs.