Atilade Akanmu Adebisi 125Photo 2. Garcinia kola nuts in the market (Photo by T.C.H. Sunderland)Trade and marketing
More often than not, after removing a small quantity for household consumption
(including entertainment and medicinal purposes), the processed bitter kola
are sold. The nuts selected for sale are usually the neatly processed ones
without a scratched nut coat. Fresh, well air-dried and ambiently stored bitter
kola commands the highest market price. At the farm gate level, bitter kola
nuts are sold to consumers, or collectors may appoint a representative. This
person buys the small quantities of nuts brought by collectors, which are then
sold at the J4 Junction market in 5 kg, 10 kg or 25 kg basket sizes (Photo 2).The trade and marketing of bitter kola within the J4 production area and
its immediate environs are as old as Omo Forest Reserve, and even before
that, NTFP collection was a major occupation of the local population. In the
last 10 years, however, the trend in the marketing of NTFPs in the study area
has expanded through bulk buyers coming from nearby towns and cities. This
increasing commercialisation has led to a tremendous expansion of the bitter
kola marketing network. This network has evolved as an intricate chain of
intermediaries, village traders, wholesalers, and interstate traders, with
avenues reaching the consumers at each stage.POLICY AND ENVIRONMENT
The formulation of government environmental and conservation policies has
been the specialised area of ecologists and conservationists. These policies fit
the management of conservation areas into the general policy framework of
the government. Thus, the environmental policy has a single objective,
conservation, which of course ultimately has influence over the attitude of
the government with respect to forest-dependent communities.07garcinia.p65 125 22/12/2004, 11:04