292 Rattan exploitation in the Yaoundé Region of Cameroone. The profit margins of the main participants in the sector are far from
being negligible in the local context. The impact of rattan-related
activities on the lives of the persons concerned is positive. It could be
even more positive if the conditions for an increased and rational
development of this high value non-timber forest product were created.
f. The rattan production-to-consumption system in Yaoundé region is
limited and poorly articulated. The vertical relationships among its
components are loose (weak integration of some components of the
channel) and its horizontal links are practically non-existent (lack of
credible organisations among actors).INTRODUCTION
Tropical forest space management currently holds a place of choice in the
concerns related to natural resources and to the environment. Before the
beginning of the 1990s, however, concerns about the sustainable management
of tropical forests in general were disproportionately partial to timber or wood,
whereas other forest resources were considered as ‘minor’ products (Falconer
1990; FAO 1993). This lack of attention with regard to non-timber forest products
(NTFPs) is nevertheless still persisting in some countries while pressures to
which they are subjected is ever-increasing as a result of deforestation and
increased commercial exploitation (Falconer 1990; Peters 1997).
Rattan is indisputably one of the most important NTFPs in the world
(Panayotou 1990; Dransfield and Manokaran 1994; Sastry 2001) and that is
without doubt one of the reasons for which it has drawn the attention of
researchers. Many studies have thus been devoted to rattan, especially to its
biology, ecology, cultivation, exploitation, processing and marketing. These
studies are concentrated almost exclusively on Asia (see for example Bacillieri
and Appanah 1999; Sastry 2001; Baja-Lapis et al. undated) since African rattan
has retained very little attention. However, considerable efforts have been
devoted to research on rattan in Africa during the past decade (see for example
Sunderland and Profizi 2003).
Yet, people in the African forest area have for a long time taken an interest
in this liana. For example, the Ewondos and related people in the region of
Yaoundé in Cameroon have a long-standing tradition of rattan utilisation.
Indeed, since they settled in the equatorial forest zone in the nineteenth
century (Mveng 1963, 1985), these people have integrated the use of rattan in
various aspects of their lives: building huts, making objects for transportation
or conservation, racks, furnishing objects, toothbrushes, consumption for food
and medicinal purposes (see Table 1).
Considering the multidimensional importance of rattan and the pressure
on this NTFP (Shiembo 1982, 1986; Béné 1994; Ndoye 1994) we decided in
1996 to study it within the framework of our thesis. This study focuses on the
rattan industry in south Cameroon and its main goal is to contribute to the
development of a policy for the rational management of rattan. The Yaoundé
region (see Figure 1) constitutes the intensive research site of this initiative
whose main objectives can be summarised as follow:17Rattan.P65 292 22/12/2004, 11:05