Forest Products, Livelihoods and Conservation

128 A case study of garcinia kola nut production-to-consumption system

Decline in the value of the standing forest resource

Almost 70% of the bitter kola production in Nigeria stems from natural or

secondary forest of the government forest reserves, while just about 30% are

from the cocoa-cola farming system production areas of south-western parts

and the oil palm–cassava and home or compound garden farming system of

the south-eastern part of Nigeria. The entire J4 area is a secondary forest and

logged-over habitat of about 59,610 ha in extent; almost half of the area has

been cleared for agriculture and forest plantations. The major land use system

is rain-fed arable cropping, characterised by swidden fallow and permanent

crop plantations of cocoa, cola, and plantain. Apart from this, each village

has an average of 13.91 ha of forest for collection of NTFPs. Both commercial

timber logging and agricultural clearing in the J4 study area in the recent past

have affected the availability of NTFPs, especially Garcinia kola.

The abundance and distribution of Garcinia kola trees within the study

area is highly variable. The density of this species is low, in spite of recent

individual planting efforts. Though these efforts, if continued, will contribute

to increasing the abundance of the species, they will not immediately contribute

to bitter kola production. In addition to the recent plantings, wild seedlings

occur in secondary forests, fallow lands and cocoa plantations, but as an

understorey species Garcinia kola is generally absent in the largely disturbed

forest of the study area. The number of Garcinia kola trees per hectare has

now been reduced from 0.5 to 0.33. The reduction in the number of productive

Garcinia kola trees has adversely affected the production of bitter kola.

Need to support domestication of Garcinia kola and the

development of greater markets

The harvest and collection of Garcinia kola nuts has always being sustainable

since no parts of the tree are destroyed in the process. However, increased

commercialisation could threaten that sustainability if proper care is not taken

to ensure the development of new generations of Garcinia kola trees with

desired characteristics through careful breeding from selected sources. The

existing populations of Garcinia kola, easy physical access, the high control

over access, control of the land and other resources provided by the Ogun

State Forestry Department and the dwellers within the J4 study area provide

an excellent opportunity to further the development of bitter kola production.

This study has found that a large number of NTFPs within the J4 area are

used locally for subsistence consumption, while any surplus is traded in the

local markets. Some NTFPs are collected mainly for commercial purposes,

among them bitter kola. The level of commercialisation of bitter kola is low

because of the tree’s scattered presence in the forests, low population

densities, and limited marketing opportunities. The development of

domestication processes to reduce the time to fruit bearing age, coupled with

improved marketing opportunities (as has been done with cola nuts), should

improve bitter kola production. With the prospect of more immediate returns

on their investment (of time and labour, if not cash), local farmers may be

encouraged to introduce plantings of Garcinia kola, and thus increase the

stocking levels of the species in the J4 area. It is logical that this development

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