Forest Products, Livelihoods and Conservation

298 Rattan exploitation in the Yaoundé Region of Cameroon

Rattan harvesting takes place exclusively in natural rattan stands in an

archaic manner and without any management plan: Rattan is not cultivated in

this region. The only tools used by harvesters are a machete and a file, which

are used not exclusively for the harvesting of rattan, but equally for almost all

production activities. Mature stems are selected (the rate of stem harvesting

per cluster varies from approximately 40% to 100%), drawn, carefully stripped

of their leaves, cut into pieces (eguainées) and/or scraped off (preprocessing

operations) and stacked in parcels or bundles.

Extraction output is low: 28% of the length of L. secundiflorum and 44% of

usable E. macrocarpa is abandoned on branches or simply in the forest because

they are entangled in the canopy, retained by a device or an environment that

hooks and twist them up (Defo 1998). Natural populations suffer not only from

these huge losses, but also from the harvesting pressure (high demand in

some villages), which is sharply detrimental to its dynamics. The exaggerated

harvesting of mature stems from clusters limits the production of suckers by

clones, or vegetative regeneration (Nzooh Dongmo personal communication).

Furthermore, the fact that the clones are permanently besieged does not give

the rattan population the possibility of getting to the reproductive and seedling

stages. In addition, rattan populations in some sites are subjected to clearing

for agricultural purposes.

The extraction of rattan has an impact that is far from being harmless or

neutral on the ecosystem. Harvesting in most cases results in the destruction

of grass, seedlings, bushes or shrubs and support branches. It deprives some

grasses or herbs of their support and sometimes some beetles or coleopterous

insects and ants of their habitat (Defo 1998). If perhaps these insects play a

fundamental role in vital functions of rattan and if the relationship of

dependence at this level is rather specific, the destruction of their habitat

would certainly have negative impacts on the dynamics of the plant

populations^2. Furthermore, rattan harvesting in the Yaoundé region frequently

contributes to promoting hunting, which in any case is not surprising given the

context within which rattan harvesters evolve.

Rattan harvesters and the socio-economic context

Most of the local rattan harvesters are relatively young married men: 96.4% of

harvesters-sellers are male and 85% are between 16 and 40 years of age;

63.1% of harvesters-craftsmen are 18 to 40 years old and 78.0% of these actors

are married; 1.2% are illiterate, 60.0% went only to primary school, 38.8%

reached secondary school and none had higher education. They have on the

average six persons under their care. Those who presently harvest and sell

rattan have not actually been in the business for long, for their average

experience or seniority is only approximately four years and 92% have less

than 10 years of experience. These rural harvesters come from average and

low social categories from the viewpoint of material wealth. But at the village

level they are far from being marginalised persons because they are well

integrated in the local socialisation and economic systems. They do not

constitute any proper or specific social class or category.

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