14 Community forestry for poverty reduction in Bangladesh - Mohammad Zashimuddin^[18]

ABSTRACT

Seventy-seven percent of Bangladesh’s population live in the rural areas: 60 percent of them are landless, and depend on wage income only as they have no other skills. About 55.3 million people are living with less than 2122 kilocalories of food per day (absolute poverty). Fifty-five percent of the rural population have inadequate income to pass the poverty line and 38 percent are living below the poverty line. Rural poverty and deforestation are inter-related problems in Bangladesh, accelerated by overpopulation, land scarcity and natural disasters. Many rural people living adjacent to forest areas maintain their livelihood on forest resources, particularly non-timber forest products. Forest degradation creates scarcity of these resources and accelerates the poverty and hunger in Bangladesh. Community forestry programmes, based on growing trees on public or community land, have been undertaken in Bangladesh since 1982. These together with the introduction of "integrated production systems" such as agrisilviculture, agrisilvipasture, agrisilvipisciculture, apiculture, sericulture, lac culture and mushroom culture in the homesteads and other marginal lands have achieved the objective of alleviating rural poverty.

INTRODUCTION

Bangladesh is located in the northeastern part of South Asia between 20°34’ - 26°38’ N and 80°01’ - 92°41’ E. The area of the country is 14.75 million hectares, mostly composed of flood plains (80 percent), except some hilly areas (12 percent) concentrated in the east and southeast of the country. In land use, 9.12 million ha are under cultivation, 1.91 million ha under public forest, 0.27 million ha under village groves, and 1.64 million ha remain constantly under water. The other land areas (1.81 million ha) are occupied by tea gardens, fallow lands, rural and urban houses, ponds, etc. (Kibria et al. 2000). The country enjoys a subtropical climate with distinct rainfall and dry periods. The annual rainfall of the country ranges from 1270 to 5080 mm. Average daily temperature varies from 11 to 34 °C. In summer, the temperature varies from 36.7 to 40.4 °C and in winter it ranges from 7.2 to 23.3 °C (BBS 1994).

Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries of the world. Its population is 131.6 million with a density of 834 persons km^-2 (Census 2001) of which 77 percent live in the rural areas. Overall per capita land availability is about 0.12 ha. Sixty percent of the rural population are functionally landless, and depend on wage income only as they have no other skills.

Agriculture is the major economic activity of the rural people. Rice is the major agriculture crop while jute, sugar-cane and tea are the main cash crops. Other important crops are wheat, tobacco, pulses, vegetables and tree fruits. Garments, jute products, tea, fish, leather and leather goods are the chief exports. Principal natural resources are natural gas, coal, limestone, ceramic clay and glass sand. At present, agriculture employs about 68 percent of the labour force. Employment in agriculture has almost reached a state of saturation while the labour force is increasing at an annual rate of 2.7 percent. In fact, income from crop production is not enough to allow marginal and small farm households to subsist. Forestry (social forestry/community forestry) could play an important role in this regard with the introduction of "integrated production system" such as agrisilviculture, agrisilvipasture, agrisilvipisciculture, apiculture, sericulture, lac culture, mushroom culture, etc. in the homesteads and other marginal lands.

POVERTY IN BANGLADESH

Poverty is a basic problem of rural people throughout the developing countries including Bangladesh and this problem is widespread and complex. About 55.3 million people are living without food, on less than 2122 kilocalories per day (absolute poverty). In general, they are deficit or insufficient of materials of basic needs. These exist due to lack of assets, inadequate stocks and limited flow of food and income. According to Rahaman (1992), 55 percent of the rural population had inadequate income to pass the poverty line and 38 percent of the population were living below the poverty line. The major causes of rural poverty in Bangladesh are population explosion, unemployment, illiteracy, low rate of production, low income, malnutrition, landlessness, indebtedness, gender inequality, degradation of natural resources, poor sanitation, insufficient organization, lack of coordination, natural calamities, exploitation and other social problems.

Rural poverty and deforestation are inter-related problems in Bangladesh, accelerated by overpopulation, land scarcity and natural disasters (Ali and Ahmed 1993). Many rural people living adjacent to forest areas maintain their livelihood on forest resources, particularly on the daily collection, consumption, processing and selling of non-timber forest products. Forest degradation creates scarcity of these resources and accelerates the poverty and hunger in Bangladesh. The rapid degradation of the natural resource base of the country is further worsening rural poverty. Unless the natural resources like forest, soil and water of the country are maintained and enhanced, poverty, malnutrition and hunger will grow continuously.

FORESTS OF BANGLADESH

The total forest area in Bangladesh is estimated at 2.18 million ha corresponding to 17.10 percent of the surface area of the country. This includes 1.19 million ha Forest Department controlled land, 0.72 million ha unclassified state forest (USF) under control of district office and 0.27 million ha village forest land (mostly homesteads). Much of the government forest land is treeless due to indiscriminate exploitation. Only 0.84 million ha (about 5.8 percent) of the state forest land have acceptable vegetation (FD 2003). Forest types and areas in Bangladesh are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Forest types and areas in Bangladesh

Source: BFRI 1993, slightly altered in location. * Refers to wood volume, not biomass. CHT = Chittagong Hill Tracts.

In fact, Bangladesh forest is declining at an alarming rate in terms of area and production. Deforestation has been occurring through illegal felling, unplanned settlement and encroachment. The country had 15 to 20 percent of forest cover a few decade ago; it has now shrunk to about 6 percent. Because of the high and rapidly growing population and overexploitation by commercial interests, there is now an acute shortage of timber, fuelwood, fodder, bamboo, cane, medicinal plants and other goods. Wood-based industries such as paper mill, newsprint mill, pulp mill, hardboard mill, particleboard mill, match factory, furniture factory, sawmill, etc. have also been suffering from shortage of raw materials.

Severe limitations in land and forest resources have severe impacts on the people and environment. Alienation of the local people from their traditional forest resources has led to a decline in traditional in situ use of the hill and terrace forests. Much of the burden of subsistence use has shifted to village groves.

With forest degradation, rare wildlife and biological diversity have also been reduced quite rapidly. Many species have gone totally extinct. Human habitats, lives and cultures of the forest communities have also been severely affected because of shrinking forests. Protection of forest land and resources has become very difficult and the situation becomes aggravated day by day. On the other hand, the rapidly growing population of the country demands more land for cultivation and more forest products, especially fuelwood, timber, bamboo, cane, medicinal plant, etc. More than 73 000 ha of forest land have already been encroached and turned into agricultural lands. About 8000 ha of forest land per year are being deforested (Hamilton 1983).

RURAL ENERGY SITUATION

The situation of natural forest in Bangladesh is not in a balanced condition. There is no productive public forest in the northern and central regions of the country. This has created acute energy shortage in these regions. As a result, most of the households light their cook-stoves only twice or even once a day. The per capita consumption of fuelwood (0.1 m³) in Bangladesh is one of the lowest in the world and there is a big shortfall of supply compared to demand, the balance of fuelwood requirement being met by farm by-products (Douglas 1982, Ohlsson 1984, Abedin and Quddus 1989). This supply and demand gap is widening every year. If the tree resource is not managed properly on a sustainable yield basis, there will be a net deficit of about 3.47 million cubic meter of fuelwood by the year 2013 (GOB 1993).

In the above discussion it is evident that Bangladesh is an overpopulated country with limited resources. Though more than 80 percent of the people are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood, cultivable land is scarce (per capita land holding approx. 0.2 ha). The natural forest occupies about 18 percent of the land surface but they are unevenly distributed (out of the total 64 districts of the country, 28 districts have no forests). Again, most of the forests are devoid of vegetation and severely degraded. Forest products, essential for basic human needs, become scarce and the forest destruction is so high that an unbalanced situation is prevailing in the ecosystem creating frequent floods, cyclones, draughts, earthquakes, etc. and as a consequence the rural poverty is accelerating in Bangladesh.

To avert the above situation, ‘community forestry programmes’ have been undertaken in Bangladesh since 1982. The programmes are based up on growing trees on public or community land, and meant to refer to a farming system in which food and wood crops are grown together in unit land through involving the disadvantaged sections of the rural community. The community forestry programmes aim to establish plantations in the degraded forest lands, private, communal or government waste and fallow lands alongside the roads, highways, railways, canal banks, embankments, etc. (Alim 1982).

The basic needs of rural people are agriculture and forest based, i.e. food, fuelwood, fodder, water and others. As such, different subsystems of agroforestry have been adopted in the community forestry programme for rural development and poverty reduction. The Bangladesh Forest Department (BFD) has launched extensive community forestry (now in the name of social forestry) programmes all over the country since 1982, emphasizing the following three important principles (Bhuiyan 1993b):

• readily creating resources at the users’ level;

• alleviating rural poverty through tree growing activity; and

• creating a buffer zone resource to save traditional forestry from the demands of the hungry population.

COMMUNITY FORESTRY - AN APPROACH TO POVERTY REDUCTION IN BANGLADESH

The Government of Bangladesh has been implementing wider programmes to promote a much larger diversification of the economy for poverty reduction of the rural masses. The major programmes include afforestation (community forestry/social forestry), cattle, goat and poultry rearing, handicrafts, small and cottage industries, etc. so that poor people can generate employment and income to come out from the vicious circle of poverty. With this in view, the Government of Bangladesh has been paying much attention and channelling more money towards the community forestry programmes since the early 1980s, taken as an approach to poverty reduction and environmental amelioration. Along with the government programme more than 100 national and international NGOs are also engaged in community forestry programmes as part of their strategy for environmental development and poverty alleviation. Some integrated production systems such as agrisilvicultural system, agrisilvipastoral system, aquasilvicultural system, etc. have been applied in this regard. In addition, other production systems such as apiculture, sericulture, mushroom culture, lac culture, etc. are also being practised in the community forestry programmes.

In Bangladesh, the first attempt in community forestry can be traced back to the Betagi and Pomora community forestry projects in 1979 and 1980 respectively in Rangunia subdistricts of Chittagong. The experience of the projects was extended later. Since 1982 some community forestry programmes have successfully been completed by the BFD and some new programmes are in progress. The notable and successful programmes are described in the following sections.

Community Forestry Project (1982-1987)

The principal purpose of the project was to develop a participatory approach to resource generation and management based on a ‘benefit-sharing’ mechanism between the government and the local communities. The components of the project included strip plantation, fuelwood plantation, pilot agroforestry demonstration plot, village afforestation and community forestry growth centre.

Thana Afforestation and Nursery Development Project (1987-95) and Extended Social Forestry Project (1985-97)

The main objective of the projects was to raise agroforestry and woodlot plantations in the degraded and encroached sal (Shorea robusta) forest land. The other components of the projects were: strip plantation; institutional planting and seedling distribution; training of local community leaders, NGO workers, teachers and students; Thana nursery and Forestry Extension Nursery Training Centre; and support to private nurseries.

Forest Resources Management Project (1992-2000)

The main objective of the project was the development of forest and human resources for forestry development in the country. The project also envisaged developing participatory (experimental) agroforestry models in the degraded hill forest lands, especially in the southern districts, Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar.

Coastal Green Belt Project (1995-2000)

The main objective of the project was to create a live shelterbelt of trees along the coastlines of the country. The principal components included embankment plantation; foreshore and barrow pit plantation; homestead and institutional plantation; establishment of nurseries and training centres. The project has adopted a participatory approach to plantation establishment and management through benefit sharing mechanisms.

Forestry Sector Project (1997-2004)

The primary objectives of the project are to augment and strengthen the overall tree resource base in the country and to reduce the rate of depletion of forest, to enhance public awareness about conservation and sustainable management of forest resources through local community participation. The project also emphasizes on the participatory plantation and management of different forests including public protected forest areas and buffer zones. The project activities have been extended to the newly accreted lands (locally called char), drained tracts (an undulated tracts), ponds and tank boundaries, etc.

NON-TIMBER FOREST PRODUCTS (NTFPS), RURAL ECONOMY AND FOREST POLICY

Forest and forest products have provided food, shelter, clothing and many necessities of life to the forest dwellers and rural poor since prehistoric days. As the economy of Bangladesh is predominantly agricultural and about 90 percent of the population live in rural areas, forests play an important role in supplying fuelwood for cooking and timber for house construction, agricultural implements, boats, carts, furniture, etc. Besides fuelwood and timber, NTFPs provide many vital forest resources such as food, medicine, honey, essential oil, spice, resin, gum, latex, fiber and floss, bamboo and cane, broom-grass, sun-grass, mushroom, tamarind, silk cocoon, lac, khoer (catechu), etc.

NTFPs play a crucial role in the daily life and economy of the rural population. These provide off-farm employment and income and are linked to the problem of poverty and subsistence. The forest foods supplement what is obtained from agriculture, thus increasing food security. NTFPs also create new opportunities for entrepreneurship development. The collecting and processing of NTFPs provide major employment opportunities to the poorest rural population and contribute about TK.1.3 billion annually to the Bangladesh economy (GOB 1993). Besides their subsistence role, NTFPs also have commercial importance in supporting small-scale industries through which value-added products are developed. Many of the participants in the community forestry projects have been including income generation activities by using NTFPs, and are trying to improve the returns from their forest resources. Various income-generating activities from NTFPs in the community forestry projects involve bamboo and cane and their products, medicinal plants, spices, lac, silk cocoon, dye, betel nut, betel leaf, ginger, turmeric, calocasia, arum, fruit, vegetable, flower, honey, etc.

A comprehensive and well-articulated ‘forest policy’ is vital for the development of NTFPs. Such a policy would specify the relative role of NTFPs in supporting conservation and management, the level and nature of resource use and management, product development and promotion, entrepreneurship development, socioeconomic development and poverty reduction. But the previous forest policies of Bangladesh neglected the conservation and management of NTFPs. The clear-felling followed by artificial regeneration system in the hill forest management severely degraded the NTFPs. Again, the monoculture of Tectona grandis was not favorable for the natural regeneration of NTFPs.

In general terms NTFPs are called ‘minor forest products’, though its importance is not minor. The previous forest policy and management strategies in Bangladesh were timber dominant. The timber dominated forest management did not give due attention to the sustainable management of NTFPs. There were harvesting rules for some products such as bamboo but were not strictly followed. So, depletion of bamboo resources was accelerated.

In the New Forest Policy (1994), the policy statement considered NTFPs as priority forest products. It states that "one of the forestry sector’s primary contributions to the basic needs of the people is to ensure sustained production of small timber, poles and firewood. Other priority products are construction wood for housing and paper products for printing and packaging. Numerous non-wood forest products such as forage, medicinal plants, fruits and extracts are also regarded as high priority species". The Forest Policy (1994) gives much emphasis on biodiversity conservation, which is also applicable for the conservation of NTFPs. But restriction on collection of NTFPs is mostly non-existent; there is no effective management system and little recognition goes to replenishing the resources. However, the present ‘clear-cutting followed by artificial regeneration’ with monoculture is highly discouraged and mixed plantation is getting preference over monoplantation. Again, cultivation of cane and medicinal plants along with tree plantations is getting preference in the management plan. Cultivation of bamboo and morta (Tenogyne dichotoma) is also being emphasized. The targeted NTFPs plantation area developed in the Forestry Master Plan (1993) totals 34 600 ha (Table 2).

Table 2. NTFPs plantation development (ha)

Source: FMP, 1993.

There will be 60 percent of plantation for rattan and 30 percent in the lac and lali programmes. An estimated amount of TK.326 million will be spent on lac production. The programme envisages 8000 ha of rattan plantation directed by the Forest Department and 6000 ha under participatory development and management. A private programme targets raising plantations on tea gardens unused lands or degraded lands of 2000 ha by planters and furniture manufacturers. Also 4000 ha will be planted by small farmers (FMP 1993).

The Forestry Master Plan envisaged that the development of NTFPs in Bangladesh will be promoted, facilitated and financed in view of their economic importance and use of the rural communities. Small-scale enterprises based on NTFPs are given special consideration for providing off-farm income and employment to the rural communities. The New National Forest Policy (1994) also includes the provisions for community participation, private forestry development, poverty alleviation and involvement of voluntary and non-government institutions in community forestry programmes.

HOW TO ADD MARKET VALUE TO NTFPS?

Up until two to three decades ago there was little commercialization of NTFPs except bamboo and cane in Bangladesh. The local people collected most of the NTFPs for their own consumption. Now with the development of modern communication and transportation and with the increasing demand of NTFPs for urban as well as local consumption, many people have entered the marketing of NTFPs. The harvesting and sale of NTFPs are now a major business for many rural poor. But there is no well-organized marketing infrastructure of NTFPs in Bangladesh.

Product development is very important to add market value to NTFPs. Again, better products are dependent on the supply of good raw materials. So, addition of market value to NTFPs needs scientific management from harvesting to transportation of the raw materials and even up to product development and sale.

To add market value to NTFPs, the following areas should be considered:

• post-harvest care which is important because of loss in qualitative and quantitative terms during transport and storage;

• rational and improved collection method;

• improvement of storage facilities;

• processing with latest technology;

• grading;

• packing;

• transportation;

• development of marketing channels;

• linkage among producers, traders and companies;

• ensuring sustainable flow of raw materials.

The sale of most NTFPs is done without processing or value addition in Bangladesh. The producers and gatherers sell most of the NTFPs in village or weekly markets and they generally have no access to big consumers. But some NTFPs such as bamboo, cane, morta, etc. have many value-added products that are made in the cottage industries of Bangladesh. These products have occupied a good market at home and abroad.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF FARM FORESTRY TO RURAL LIVELIHOOD

Farming is an activity carried out by households on holdings that represent managerial units organized for economic production of crops and livestock. When tree components are integrated with the farming system it is called farm forestry. It is an integral part of land-use system. So, we could define farm forestry as a subsystem or a component of community forestry that refers to an activity which involves the rural individuals in forestry activities in their farms. It generally improves the production base and gives additional benefits that subsist the farmer. There are different traditional farm forestry practices in Bangladesh; the most familiar practices are homestead forestry and cropland agroforestry. The former is practised all over the country and both of them are practised in the northwestern and southwestern parts, especially in the districts of Rajshahi and Khulna Division.

CONTRIBUTION OF HOMESTEAD FORESTRY TO RURAL LIVELIHOOD

Homestead has been a part of traditional farming system in Bangladesh for ages. It is an unit of land surrounding a dwelling house, on which a number of annual and perennial plants including agricultural crops and trees are grown together with/without livestock, poultry and/or fish, largely managed by the household members for their own use or commercial purposes. The homesteads thus present an excellent example of all embracing multipurpose land-use system and biodiversity conservation.

In Bangladesh, about 80 percent of the population live in villages having small homesteads. There are about 15 million homesteads in the rural areas. Planting trees and retaining naturally grown trees in homesteads are in fact quite common. Homestead forests appear to offer the best potential to improve production of tree products (Alim 1984, Byron 1984, Hocking and Islam 1984). Trees and shrubs grown in and around homesteads are a ready and sustainable source of food, fruit, vegetable, fuelwood, fodder, building material, NTFPs including spice and medicine, and also a source of cash income. Trees along the borders of the homesteads minimize soil erosion and enhance soil productivity of the homesteads as well as nearby crop fields (Hassan and Mazumder 1990).

Trees in homesteads play an important role in the livelihood of rural poor and in the rural economy of Bangladesh (Chowdhury and Sattar 1993) and act as a buffer against rural poverty. Trees and tree products also play an important role in household food security, the most important being in meeting seasonal food needs. The household consumption of fruits like jack fruit, mango, banana, guava, coconut, papaya, etc. from the homestead trees and the cash earned through the sale of fruits and other tree products help the poor farmers to overcome the lean periods. Hassan et al. (1985) reported that in the homesteads vegetables were available year round while tree fruits were available during one lean period. In most of the villages of high elevation and hilly regions, root crops and tubers are also produced under trees and these are extensively used during lean periods. Nutrition supply is also associated with household income, livelihood and poverty. Homestead trees meet the household nutritional requirement to a great extent.

Fuel from homesteads provides a major source of energy for cooking and food processing in rural communities. Douglas (1982) reported that the estimated 30 400 ha of homesteads in Bangladesh provide 85 percent of all wood consumed, including 90 percent of fuelwood and 90 percent of bamboo. Fuelwood scarcity is rising day by day in Bangladesh and the most acute situation is prevailing in the northern region of the country. Fuelwood shortage indirectly affects household food security, forcing both men and women to spend their time collecting fuelwood and less time in income generation activities. Depletion of homestead forestry is aggravating the situation. Contingencies make the rural poor more poor and they are among the major causes of poverty in Bangladesh. Homestead forestry plays a significant role to meet the contingencies.

In Bangladesh, trees, crops, livestock and fish are traditionally integrated in most of the homesteads and these altogether form a niche. However, due to shortage of fodder for the livestock and feed for poultry, these traditional practices of rural households are facing problems, but still this production system contributes significantly to rural livelihood.

CONTRIBUTION OF CROPLAND AGROFORESTRY TO RURAL LIVELIHOOD

Cropland agroforestry is a traditional land-use system of Bangladesh where trees are grown in association with agricultural crops in crop fields. The farmers of the northern districts of Bangladesh practise tree plantation in their croplands. They plant many tree species such as Acacia nilotica, A. catechu, Artocarpus heterophyllus, Eucalyptus, Dalbergia sissoo, Phoenix sylvestris (date-palm), Borassus flabellifer (palmyra-palm) etc. not only in the boundaries but even in the entire croplands in wide distances. It was observed that trees in the crop fields contribute, on average, about 2 percent to the family income. About 43 percent of the fuel needs at Jessore were met by tree products and 50 percent of this came from trees grown in the crop fields (Abedin and Quddus 1988).

Besides supplying fuel for household cooking, the trees grown are very important for the livelihood of the area as they produce fruit, juice, and timber for multiple end-uses. Extraction of juice from the date- palm and its subsequent processing into "gur" is an important source of income not only for the owners but also for the artisans. To some of the poor artisans, employment in this trade can generate enough cash to buy food for more than six months of the year. Leaves of the date-palm trees are used for making mats, bags and baskets by women and make good income. Palmyra-palm also provides fruit, juice and timber and farmers earn a handsome amount of money. Women make fans from the leaves of palmyra-palm and earn a lot. Making of village canoes with the trunk of palmyra-palm provides employment for the artisans. The species also provides good, durable construction timber and creates a scope of employment for artisans.

Croplands provide huge quantities of acacia, which is used to extract tannin for making "khoer" and the product has a good market. Many cottage industries have developed in the Charghat area of Rajshahi District based on Acacia catechu for khoer production.

COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT OF FOREST RESOURCES (SOME MODELS OF BANGLADESH)

Community-based forest management was widespread before the advent of nationalization and commercialization, which in turn resulted in alienation of the local people from most of the forests (Davidson 2000). Tree plantations were raised in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in the early 1870s, with people allowed to participate through taungya for a limited time where teak was being planted using paid labour. There was no suggestion that local communities would share in the benefits of forest production. By any modern definition it was neither truly participatory nor community management.

At the end of 1970s community forestry projects were started in Betagi and Pomora in the CHT and this is considered a milestone in the history of community forestry in Bangladesh. Considering the success story of Betagi-Pomora community forestry projects, many community forestry programmes were undertaken by the government (Forest Department, FD) and NGOs in different regions of the country and in different forms. Some of the renowned models are briefly discussed here:

1. Betagi-Pomora model

The model has the following characteristics:

• integration of poor landless farmers with degraded forest land (land areas of Betagi and Pomora were Forest Department’s and Khas land respectively);

• homogeneous characteristics of the participants (farmers);

• 1.62-ha land allocation to each family;

• tenurial security ensured to both husband and wife;

• adoption of agrisilvicultural production system on the basis of farmers’ needs for food, fuelwood, timber, cash and other products;

• inclusion of short-term, mid-term and long-term crops with emphasis on fruit trees (60 percent);

• adoption of indigenous technology;

• self-help ideology;

• decentralized decision-making process;

• solidarity and existence of strong organization (Bhumiheen Samity);

• technical and financial assistance;

• strong patronage from state and local elite;

• linkage with middlemen for marketing the products and to ensure fair price;

• ecologically sound and economically sustainable land use.

2. The Chittagong Hill Tracts rehabilitation model

The model has the following characteristics:

• is based on participation of nomadic shifting cultivators;

• 2.0 ha of land allotted for each family, of which 0.20 ha is for homestead and kitchen garden and 1.82 ha for agrosilvihorticultural garden with short-, mid- and long-term crops;

• setting up cluster villages in convenient locations so as to afford all social and community facilities like water supply, health care, education, access road and product marketing;

• financial assistance for land development, housing and subsistence grant for the first year until the agricultural crops are harvested. The farmer families work in their own holdings but are paid for their wages;

• extension services provided by the FD and the health, education, local government and co-operative departments extended community services;

• engaged in block plantations on participatory concept with the FD and the farmers get wages for their work and practised taungya cultivation in the new plantation areas.

3. Community forestry project (North Bengal)

The model has the following characteristics:

• is based on participation of local landless farming community, especially the forest encroachers;

• practised in the denuded (in many cases encroached) plain land sal (Shorea robusta) forest areas of northern districts;

• motivation by the local FD officers and staff;

• allotment of 1.2 ha land for a period of one year by offering usufructory rights under a lease agreement which is extendable up to the rotation period of trees subject to satisfactory performance of the participants;

• introduction of specially designed alley-cropping agroforestry models;

• fast-growing short rotation exotic and indigenous tree species planted with agricultural crops;

• first-year agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, insecticides given to the farmers as free grants of the project;

• the entire agricultural produce of the holdings belongs to the farmers free of costs; 50 percent of the timber or its sale proceeds at harvest also granted to the farmers through bilateral agreement between the FD and the individual farmer. Besides, the fallen trees, leaves, twigs and branches from the pruning also given to the farmers free of costs;

• training provided to the farmers and during training they are given a money incentive fairer than their daily wages.

4. Strip-plantation in roads and highways

This takes the following characteristics:

• the FD takes the allotment of strips of land from the Authority of Roads and Highways, the Bangladesh Water Development Board and the Bangladesh Railway Board;

• motivation of local landless people and formation of groups (10-15 participants per group);

• allocation of strip lands among the groups;

• plantation establishment and cultivation of agricultural crops (intercrops) by the groups on the strip land under the guidance of the FD;

• the FD provides seeds, seedlings, fertilizers and daily wages to the groups at the time of planting;

• responsibility given to the groups for postplanting maintenance, management and supervision;

• the participants receive 100 percent of the agricultural crops and pruning materials from the trees;

• a bilateral agreement between the groups and the FD is that the final yield of the tree crop would be shared with the participants: 65 percent to the farmer groups, 20 percent to the FD, 10 percent to the agency owning the land and 5 percent to the Union Council. In the case of Union Council road, 80 percent of the harvest goes to the groups and 20 percent to the Council.

SMALL-SCALE FOREST INDUSTRIES IN COMMUNITY FORESTS

Small-scale forest industries constitute an important part of the forestry sector in Bangladesh, contributing significantly to the development of both the sectors of the rural and industrial economies. Being small, such enterprises are able to utilize local valuable but scattered forest resources, which might otherwise be unproductive. The rural people benefit from such enterprises in a short time. Moreover, the enterprises are characterized by small size, technological simplicity of operation, low capital intensity, heavy reliance on entrepreneurs, seasonality of activities, etc. The Small and Cottage Industries Corporation of Bangladesh (BSCIC) listed 157 types under small and cottage industries (BSCIC 1983). The following types of small and cottage industries are located in or nearest to the community forestry projects which are based on the raw materials from the community forests.

Table 3. List of community forestry-based small-scale industries in Bangladesh

Kanwal (1982) reported that there are about 75 000 bamboo and cane units in Bangladesh. According to Abdullah (1979), there are only 45 000 small-scale industries and 425 000 cottage industries in Bangladesh. But Sirajuddin (1986) stated that there are 3.22 million cottage industries in Bangladesh that are able to produce 160 items and employ approximately 9.18 million people.

EMERGENCE OF COMPANY-COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP AND DEAL

There is no organized marketing system of forest produce, especially of NTFPs, in Bangladesh. Links or communications between company and community are, in fact, absent.

Like other developing countries, the marketing of fuelwood and NTFPs in Bangladesh is informal with no definite marketing structure. Marketing of these products starts from simple village level consumer markets to large industrial markets. It is a system undertaken within a network of growers, middlemen and traders. Unlike agricultural crops, the marketing of the forest products is almost entirely conducted by private traders in Bangladesh. The middlemen/traders collect information about market conditions and offer prices for the products. Producers and gatherers perform very limited marketing services.

The main raw material of the Karnafuly Paper Mill (KPM) is bamboo. The mill authority collects bamboo from natural bamboo forests of the Chittagong Hill Tracts through contractors. There are bamboo cutting rules and contractors sign the agreement to obey the rules. But in practice they do not follow the rules in order to maximize the collection and this leads to severe degradation of bamboo forests in Bangladesh.

The lack of a marketing system, pricing policy and the absence of a market have created imperfect conditions where the communities are exploited by the buyers, i.e. the middlemen and the traders. The rural landless people who have participated in the community forestry programmes started cultivation of trees and NTFPs on the understanding that they would gain from the sale of timber, fuelwood, fruit, medicinal plants, etc. in the near future. But a proper marketing infrastructure to sell the produce is absent in the country. It is observed that when marketing problems are not solved, farmers suffer economic losses and lose their interest in adopting new farming practices and technologies (Siddiqui 1994).

COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN REFORESTATION

The Forest Department generally does reforestation of upland public lands and afforestation in coastal areas. The Department reforests degraded sal forest mostly with the participation of the local people on benefitsharing system under the community forestry programmes. In some areas NGOs are also involved to accelerate the reforestation programme. The BFRI, FD and some NGOs have their own nurseries and there are many small private nurseries all over the country for raising planting materials for afforestation and reforestation at different regions of Bangladesh.

Many people of different tribal communities and Bengali settlers in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) raise plantations of Tectona grandis and Gmelina arborea on their joth (lease land). Private entrepreneurs are raising rubber plantations in the degraded hills of the CHT and they also raise tree plantations in the rubber estates. There are also market oriented horticultural plantations at the CHT. The Bawm, Lushai and Pankhua were perhaps the first people in the CHT to start market-oriented horticulture on a commercial scale (Roy 2002).

GENDER ROLE IN COMMUNITY FORESTRY (CF)

In Bangladesh about half of the population are women. But the conventional wisdom tells us that here women are in a disadvantaged position. Women’s contribution to the family and national economy is substantial and largely unacknowledged (Westward 1983). Equal access to jobs, education, training, technology and access to resources is generally denied. Gender inequality is also a significant factor for poverty in Bangladesh. It was observed that the FD has engaged the poor women as daily labourers in raising nurseries and plantations. Later they were included in the CF programme.

No notable effort has so far been made in evaluating women’s participation in CF in Bangladesh. Arif (1985) conducted a review work on women’s involvement in community forestry. Since the Betagi and Pomora community forestry projects were the first of their kind some authors have made detailed studies. According to Quddus et al. (1992) and Rahman (1993), women planted the maximum number of trees in the Betagi project and women spent 3-6 hours per day in the homestead agroforestry practice. Khundakar (1991) reported that in the Betagi community forestry project women were involved in preparing land, collecting seeds, raising seedlings and saplings, watering plants, controlling pests and diseases, etc. They were found to make cash by selling fruit, wood, poultry birds, eggs, and milk to meet the cash expenditure of the household. Rahman (1991) reported that women in the same project took part in fuelwood and sungrass (Imperata cylindrica) cutting. Women’s participation in Betagi-Pomora in tree planting was 100 percent but about 46 percent could sell products without the consent of their husbands and they could keep the money in their own custody. The rest could do these jointly with their husbands. Therefore, CF links women with the market economy and this system may be considered as a phenomenal advancement in the control of resources. The women of Betagi were more enthusiastic to work and sell the products because of joint ownership rights on the land with their husbands (Quddus et al. 1992, Rahman 1993).

Khundakar (1991) also reported that the women members in the social forestry programmes of the BRAC, Nijera Kori, Proshika and RDRS made up 54, 37, 33 and 26 percent respectively. Women did most of the work in the nursery such as preparing soils, bagging soils, seed sowing, watering, weeding, seedling grading, nurturing, etc. Women groups are largely involved in planting trees in most of the government and NGO directed community forestry programmes. Proshika has achieved formation of an equal number of women groups compared to male groups in their social forestry programme. Now the emphasis is on the maximization of women’s participation. In 1990-91, 1457 women’s groups and 494 male groups which make a total of 1951 groups were involved in the social forestry programme of Proshika (Rahman 1993). The BRAC has mulberry plantation programme for sericulture development where 100-200 sericulture women are selected every year to plant 50-100 mulberry trees around each of their homesteads (Bhuiyan 1993a). Huda (1994) reported that the Village and Farm Forestry Project (VFFP) of the Swedish Development Corporation (SDC) involved more women compared with men in the project activities.

In homestead agroforestry, women perform many activities such as collection and storing of seeds, raising seedlings, planting, watering, fencing, fertilizing, harvesting and processing. It was found that women also took care of the seedlings to save them from theft and being destroyed by cattle, goats and wild animals. Collection and processing of agroforestry products and preparing them for marketing is an integral part of homestead forestry where women do the maximum work from collection to processing. But most critical is the decision-making process. Generally women’s consent is ignored during decision-making. In homestead plantations both the wife and husband play key roles in decision-making. Both husband and wife jointly make decisions to plant trees in all farm categories. But for vegetable production women are involved more than men regardless of farm categories. Many authors reported that women were more interested in planting annual crops than trees because of greater immediate benefits.

Saha (1994) reported that the Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service (RDRS) plants about one million trees every year, with 70 percent of the harvest ensured to the beneficiaries. About 2000 women are employed as caretakers for a period of three years, 50 percent of them engaged in viable income generating activities after two years of employment.

COMMUNITY FORESTRY CAN REDUCE POVERTY AND MAKE MONEY

Community forestry if properly planned and implemented can reduce poverty and make money. It gives opportunities to the participants to produce food, fruit, fuelwood, timber, fodder, spices, medicinal plants and other essential NTFPs. It has also created ample opportunities for employment and income generation in the locality. With the multidimensional production systems, employment opportunities and income of the participants are sharply increased. The programmes provide subsistence and link the participants with the market economy. The community forestry programmes (CFP) in Bangladesh have provided the previously landless families with a considerable degree of stability and security.

In the Pomora CFP, the average annual income of the individual farmer has increased to about TK.35 000 per annum. Families who settled in 1981, 1983 and 1985 have average incomes of TK.30 000, TK.20 000, and TK.10 000 respectively (Mohammed 1990). Rahman (1991, 1993) reported that during 1984-85 the average income per family per annum at the Pomora CFP was TK.9000. He also reported that the previous income of Betagi farmers varied from TK.4000-5000 per year before involving in the Betagi CFP. After joining the project their average annual income was TK.10 000 per family during 1983-84. During 1984-85 it rose to more than TK.15 000 and by 1990 it rose to TK.20 000-50 000. Regular RRA studies by Rahman (1993) revealed that from 1984 onwards the income at Betagi was TK.30 000 to TK.65 000. At Betagi, there were a few families who were earning more than TK.90 000 per year.

Quddus et al. (1992) made a thorough study of the Betagi and Pomora community forestry projects and reported that the postsettlement mean monthly family income of all settlers (TK.3480) had increased more than two and half times from the presettlement value (TK.1298). The postsettlement mean monthly family income of the Betagi settlers had increased about four times (TK.4617) from their presettlement value (TK.1170) while in Pomora it had increased only about twice (i.e. from TK.1373 to TK.2814). The differences between pre- and postsettlement mean monthly family incomes of both Betagi and Pomora were found statistically significant (sig.0.001).

Bhuiyan (1994) reported the economic performance of a 6.05-ha plantation at Madhyapara Range of Dinajpur Forest Division under the community forestry project. The plantation was harvested at the age of eight years and the average earning from timber sale was TK.57 086 for each holding of 1.2 ha. This gave an average sale cash receipt of TK.28 543 to each family (half of the sale proceeds). The value outturn of agricultural crop during 1985-91 was TK.1 36 412. This gave an average cash receipt of TK.27 282 for each holding of 1.2 ha over six years.

Bose (1989) reported that between 1981-82 and 1984-85, 145 farmer participants of the Dinajpur Community Forestry Project benefited from the 232-km strip plantation worth TK.101 000, and 216 farmers benefited from 318-km strip plantation worth TK.196 000. The cash income earned from selling ‘gur’, the crude sugar made from date-palm juice, sustained poor families for 5-6 months in a year in some areas of Jessore (Akter and Haque 1986). Homestead trees are considered to be assets and savings by the rural people of Bangladesh (Abedin and Quddus 1988). The mean income from trees grown in homesteads of Kishorgonj District was estimated to be TK.5090 and TK.23 580 per farm per anum for an average homestead area of 0.06 ha and 0.18 ha respectively (Hossain 1991).

The Forest Department (2003) reported that the plantations raised under the Community Forestry Project and Thana Afforestation and Nursery Development Project are now being harvested and the shares distributed to the participants in the years 1999-2000, 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 are summarized in Table 4.

Table 4. Share distribution to the community forestry participation (1999-2002)

A Proshika group planted Cajanas cajan as nurse crop in a one-kilometer roadside strip plantation at Sirajganj and made a net profit of TK.10 000 simply by selling pods and firewood.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Community forestry (now well known as social forestry), which is an appealing land-use strategy by local poor landless community, has been in practice in Bangladesh for more than twenty years. It has become a highly attractive and acceptable programme to the rural people, especially the landless and small farmers. It has generated sufficient resources and income to raise the rural poor above subsistence level and proved that community forestry can play a significant role in rural poverty alleviation in Bangladesh. Apart from the creation of resources, employment and income, community forestry is playing a vital role in preserving the environment, which also helps alleviate rural poverty.

The efforts of the last twenty-year’s activities have resulted in the emergence of community forestry as a rural institution. This is perhaps the most significant achievement. Motivation and awareness creation of communities towards tree plantation in marginal lands, degraded forest lands and community lands is also a great achievement. The participants have already obtained their share as per participatory benefit sharing agreements and now strongly believe that community forestry can reduce poverty.

The incomes of community forestry participants have increased. But there are still many constraints that need to be overcome for smooth functioning and sustainable management of community forestry programmes.

Some recommendations are made below to alleviate the major constraints and improve community forestry programmes in Bangladesh:

1) Ensure true participation. Joining the community forestry programmes and getting a share from the sale of products do not mean true participation. All decisions are still taken by the higher authorities of the government and NGOs without involving the target clientele. From the programme planning stage to implementation and evaluation, decision must be taken in consultation with the local communities.

2) Ensure tenurial security of both land and tree. Medium- and long-term leasing of land should be introduced. Letters of agreement or deeds must be given to the participants/clientele. Tenure should be given jointly to both the husband and wife of a household.

3) Integration of multifarious production systems. Agrisilvicultural, agrisilvipastural, agrisilvipiscicultural production systems along with apiculture, sericulture, lac culture, mushroom culture, poultry rearing and livestock rearing should be integrated in the CF programmes, especially in the homesteads. Homesteads should be utilized as a production unit with all available and site suitable production systems.

4) Integrate small and cottage industries in the homesteads or develop community-base enterprises. Processing of food or other raw materials and product development (e.g. handicrafts) should be done with indigenous or advanced technologies.

5) Provide participant farmers with collateral-free credits to carry out the CF programmes and equip the farmers with technology.

6) Develop marketing infrastructure to sell the products. Linkages should be developed among producers (participants), village traders, retailers and consumers.

7) Develop marketing information system so that farmers get information about demand and prices of the products.

8) Create/format community organizations. Local organizations should be created or strengthened to foster self-reliance and to encourage people to mobilize their own resources in managing a CF programme. The Krishak Samabay Semite (Farmers Co-operative Association) and the Bhumiheen Samabsy Semite (Landless Farmers Association) could be best utilized in participation.

9) Obtain strong patronage from state, political leaders, government officials, local elite and community organizations.

10) Provide training and extension.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abdullah, M.M. 1979. Rural development in Bangladesh. Dhaka - 7. p. 44.

Abedin, M.Z. & Quddus, M.A. 1988. Household fuel situation, home gardens and agroforestry practices at six agroecologically different locations of Bangladesh. In M.Z. Abedin, C.K. Lai & M.O. Ali, eds. Proceedings of a national workshop held in July 17-19, 1988 at Joydebpur, Bangladesh, pp. 19-53.

Abedin, M.Z. & Quddus, M.A. 1989. Household fuel availability and homegardens in some selected locations of Bangladesh. Working Paper No. 2. Dhaka, Bangladesh, BARC-Winrock International.

Akter, M.S. & Haque, M.F. 1986. Analytical framework for understanding rain-fed agroforestry system. Paper presented at the Workshop on Social Forestry in Bangladesh. Organised by Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies and University of California, 12-14 September 1986, Dhaka.

Alim, A. 1982. Use of waste and marginal land through landless agricultural labours. Pro. Second BN For. Conf. Dhaka, Jan 21-26, 1982.

Alim, A. 1984. Integrated rural development, protection of forest, use of forest soil, and potential connection of rural poor to the waste and marginal land. Bangladesh, Institute of Forestry, Chittagong University.

Arif, F.E. 1985. Women’s involvement in community forestry. Bogra, Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development.

BBS. 1994. Statistical yearbook of Bangladesh. Twelveth edition. Dhaka, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Planning. 628 pp.

BFRI (Bangladesh Forest Research Institute). 1993. Master Plan 2000-2005. Chittagong, Bangladesh, Bangladesh Forest Research Institute.

Bhuiyan, A.A. 1993a. Agroforestry potential in degraded forest land and marginal lands. Lecture note prepared for the Agroforestry Training Workshop held during February 27-4 March, 1993 at BARC, Dhaka.

Bhuiyan, A.A. 1994. Forest land agroforestry-the North Bengal experience. Dhaka, Bangladesh, BARC-Winrock International.

Bhuiyan, F.K. 1993b. Social forestry programme of BARC. In T.B.S. Mahat, ed. NGOs and participatory forestry in Bangladesh, pp.10-14. Proceedings of the workshop held at BARC, Dhaka, 16 April 1992. Dhaka, Bangladesh, BARC-Winrock International.

Bose, S.K. 1989. Some sociologically related factors influencing the practice of social forestry in Bangladesh. Social forestry in Asian Regional Centre for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture, SEACA. Los Banos, Laguna, Philippine.

BSCIC. 1983. Cottage industries of Bangladesh - a survey. Dhaka, Bangladesh, Small and Cottage Industries Corporation, Motijheel Commercial Area: 137-138.

Byron, N. 1984. Status, trend and proposed direction of Bangladesh forestry. Paper presented at Forestry Extension Seminar, Forestry Development and Training Centre, Kaptai, Bangladesh.

Chowdhury, M.K. & Mahat, T.B.S. 1993. Agroforestry farming systems of Bangladesh. In M.K. Chowdhury & T.B.S. Mahat, eds. Agroforestry farming system linkages in Bangladesh. Research Report Series 2. Dhaka, BARCWinrock International.

Davidson, J. 2000. Social forestry in Bangladesh and social forestry research in the Bangladesh Forest Research Institute. Chittagong, Bangladesh, Bangladesh Forest Research Institute.

Douglas, J.J. 1982. Consumption and supply of wood and bamboo in Bangladesh. Dhaka, Planning Commission.

FD (Forest Department). 2003. Participatory Forestry Newsletter. Bulletin No. 1, May 2003.

GOB (Government of Banglades). 1993. Forestry Master Plan: Participatory Forestry. Asian Development Bank (TA No. 1355-BAN) UNDP/FAO/BGD 88/025. Dhaka, Bangladesh.

GOB (Government of Bangladesh). 1993. Forestry Master Plan: Main Plan-1993/2012. Volume 1, Asian Development Bank (TA No. 1355-BAN) UNDP/FAO/BGD 88/025. Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Hamilton, L.S. 1983. Ecological aspects of community forestry as a sustainable land use. Community forestry: some aspects. Proceedings of the Regional Workshop on Community Forestry. Jointly sponsored by the East-West Environment Policy Institute and FAO Regional Office for Asia and Pacific. 22-29 August 1983. Bangkok, Comilla, Bangladesh.

Hassan, M.M. et al. 1985. Seasonal pattern of food intake in rural Bangladesh: its impact on nutritional status. Ecology of Food and Nutrition 17 (2): 175-186.

Hassan, M.M. & Mazumdar, A.H. 1990. An exploratory survey of trees on homestead and wasteland of Bangladesh. ADAB News, March-April 1990: 26-32.

Hocking, D. & Islam, K. 1994. Trees in Bangladesh paddy fields and homesteads: participatory action research towards a model design. Agroforestry Systems 25: 193-216.

Hossain, S.M.A. 1991. Fact searching and intervention in two FSORDP sites. Activities 1989-90. Farming system research and development programme, pp. 172-178. Mymensingh, Bangladesh Agricultural Institute.

Huda, A.T.M.A. 1994. An overview of gender issues in VFFP, In N.U. Ahmed & M.A.H. Mia, eds. Gender issues in agriculture. Proceedings of the national workshop, 23-26 Oct. 1994, BARC, Dhaka.

Kanwal, A.S. 1982. Cane and bamboo craft. Bangladesh DRI, UNDP & ILO Project.

Khandakar, K. 1991. Women in social forestry in Bangladesh. In M.R. Ahmed, ed. Proceedings of the national workshop held at the Institute of Forestry, Chittagong University, Bangladesh, pp. 103-108.

Kibria, M.G., Sarkar, D.C., Hossain, M.A.T., Mannan, M.A., Motaleb, M.A. & Islam, S.S. 2000. Forest statistics of Bangladesh. Bulletin No. 4. Chittagong, Bangladesh, Forest Economics Division, Bangladesh Forest Research Institute. 119 pp.

Mohammed, A. 1990. RRA concepts, methods applications. Agricultural research Project-II (supplement) BARC/USAID/CHECHI & Co.

Ohlsson, B. 1984. Composite planting in Bangladesh. Report to the Employment Sector Programme, Dhaka, ORGUT, Stockholm.

Quddus, A.H.G, Ali, S.M.I., Bhuiyan, A.M.A. & Hossain, M. 1992. Greening the hills. The Betagi-Pomora agroforestry experience. Research Report Series 1. Dhaka, Bangladesh, BARC-Winrock International.

Quddus, A.H.G., Ali, S.M.I., Bhuiyan, A.M.A. & Hossain, M. 1993. The Betagi-Pomora agroforestry experience. In T.B.S. Mahat & S.M.R. Amin, eds. Participatory forestry perspectives, pp. 1-10. Agroforestry Information Series 3. Dhaka, Bangladesh, BARC-Winrock International.

Rahaman, H.Z. 1992. Rethinking rural poverty in Bangladesh: a summary outline. Paper presented at the European Network of Bangladesh Studies Workshop, Hornbead, Denmark, August 27-29, 1992. 9 pp.

Rahman, A. 1991. Betagi community forestry projects as a social forestry model in Bangladesh. In Ahmed, M.R., ed. Proceedings of the national workshop held at the Institute of Forestry, Chittagong University, Bangladesh, pp. 91-102.

Rahman, A. 1993. Social forestry in Bangladesh: the Betagi-Pomora experience. In T.B.S Mahat & S.M. R. Amin, eds. Participatory forestry perspectives, pp. 11-24. Agroforestry Information Series 3. Dhaka, Bangladesh, BARC-Winrock International.

Rahman, M.M. 1993. Social forestry programme of Proshika (MUK). In T.B.S. Mahat, ed. NGOs and participatory forestry in Bangladesh. Proceedings of the workshop held at the BARC on 16 April 1992. Dhaka, Bangladesh, BARC-Winrock International.

Roy, Raja D. 2002. Sustainable and equitable resource management in the CHT. In Khan et al., eds. Farming practices and sustainable development in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Bangladesh, CHT-Development Board and VFFP of SDC.

Saha, S. 1994. Achievements of RDRS on gender issues in agriculture. In N.U. Ahmed & M.A.H. Mia, eds. Gender issues in agriculture. Proceedings of the national workshop, 23-26 Oct. 1994, BARC, Dhaka.

Siddiqui, A.R. 1994. Commercialization of agroforestry products in Bangladesh. In S.M. Amin & M.I.M. Fattah, eds. Agroforestry training course. Module for Bangladesh, pp. 101-106. Dhaka, Bangladesh, BARC-Winrock International.

Sirajuddin, M. 1986. Cottage industry. Dhaka, Bangla Academy. (in Bengali)