| The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 2002) estimates that 80 percent of the developing world, including some 60 million indigenous people, relies on non-timber forest products (NTFP) for their nutritional, health, material, and income needs. The factors that determine the roles of specific forest resource types in rural household livelihood strategies, however, are not well understood. The current project investigated various potential influences of NTFP demand for different categories among 259 indigenous (Orang Asli) households from the Jah Hut ethnic sub-group living on the margin of the Krau Forest Reserve in Peninsular Malaysia. Data were collected across three time periods between March 2003 and March 2004. NTFP collection was reported by 73 percent of the sample and was one of several activities used to meet household consumption and income needs. NTFP contributed a mean of 20 percent of total income to collector households. Group-level analyses revealed that households' distance from the market was positively related to NTFP collection variables, and that the poorest households in the sample were most reliant. When the types of NTFP collected were grouped into five categories (e.g. fruits, construction materials, herbs and resins, frogs and reptiles, and mammals), frogs and reptiles and construction materials contributed the most cash income to collector households.; Zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) models were employed to assess NTFP demand (both the collection decision, and the number of collection trips) for general NTFP and for each of the five product categories. Explanatory variables included those related to preferences, economic opportunities, consumption smoothing, agricultural reliance, environmental disturbances, and land-tenure security. Results suggest that NTFP in general may have provided supplemental income to households with insufficient income from other sources, as well as consumption smoothing opportunities for households with low savings and high agricultural reliance. NTFP collection was positively correlated with the number of environmental disturbances reportedly responsible for lower crop yields, and negatively related to households' perceived land-tenure security. Relationships between explanatory factors and collection across different product types, however, were heterogeneous. Implications with respect to forest policy and potential targets for rural development and poverty alleviation are discussed. |
