10. The human foreground
Into forest at 7.45 with Kennedy who is going to show me where the illegal pit-sawing is taking
place in the Nature Reserve. Follow 0B west to NR. At NR this becomes the zero trail, E-W. We
continue for c. 1 km to line 11 then turn left and immediately find a pitsawyers’ site. A large
mahogany (Entandrophragma utile) has been cut and lies on the forest floor. One section 4 m long
has been removed from middle of tree & rolled up on to a platform & partly sawn. I take photos.
Diameter 82 cm where cut (20 March 2002).Economic impoverishment can lead to over-use of natural resources (trees and wood,
animals, water) which are seen as freely available. We know there is encroachment of
Budongo Forest around its borders, that its valuable trees have been plundered, and its
wildlife is being taken for food with increasing intensity. But who are the people doing
this, and for what reasons?
Fortunately we have had some excellent studies on these matters by students working
with the BFP.
Micro-demography of the local population
We have an insight into the nature of the local human population around Budongo
thanks to a study by Heidi Marriott (Marriott 1999). This was a preliminary analysis of
immigration, fertility, age of marriage, contraception, age of weaning and mortality. We
are lucky to have these basic data on our peri-Budongo inhabitants; they are simply not
available for most up-country areas like ours.
Marriott worked in Nyabyeya parish, just to the south of Budongo Forest. She studied
five village communities: Nyakafunjo, Kyempunu, Nyabyeya 1, Nyabyeya 2 and
Nyabyeya Centre (see Fig. 10.1). These villages are adjacent to the Budongo Forest,
with some homesteads bordering the forest itself.
Most people are primarily subsistence farmers growing a variety of crops, including
beans, millet maize, potato, groundnuts, banana and sorghum for household consumption.
Surplus produce is sold at local markets. There are some families where heads of house-
hold have either temporary or permanent jobs which exclude them from farm labour, often
taking them away from home. The pressures on women are clearly increased as a result
of this arrangement as they may become solely responsible for agricultural production.