126 A case study of garcinia kola nut production-to-consumption systemWhen Omo Forest Reserve was created about 100 years ago, it was
subdivided for effective management into areas called J1, J3, J4 and J6. Then
the subdivisions were apportioned to people already living in the reserve in
isolated villages and camps. This was to enable the subsequent effective
participatory management approach by the (then) Western State Government
of Nigeria. In the J4 area, about 15 villages and camps were demarcated, with
specific instructions that farming areas for either arable or cash crops not be
expanded beyond the plots originally occupied. Furthermore villagers were
instructed that on no account trees be felled without the expressed permission
of the Chief Conservator of Forests. The only ‘minor forest products’ (now
NTFPs) the inhabitants were allowed to take included nuts, fruits and probably
wild game (for which a hunting permit had to be obtained). These policies are
still in force today. Although the forest is ample and few human beings frequent
this area, the whole area would probably have been environmentally degraded
had there been no such policy. Even so, through government permits, the
exploitation of timber trees and clearing for plantations almost two-third of
the forest has been degraded to secondary forest. In the process many of the
NTFP resources have been destroyed or grossly decimated. For example, in
his enumerations conducted in the last four decades, Lowe (1993) estimated
the density of Garcinia kola trees at 0.5/ha. This relative scarcity has affected
the production of bitter kola, and the volume of its trade decreased when
compared with that of the early 1960s. However, the trading volumes may
increase in the nearest future, as the forest inhabitants are now growing
Garcinia kola trees using wildlings.TRENDS AND ISSUESDynamic changes
In general, the abundance of a NTFP in a particular area where it is endemic
is determined by the variation in natural conditions and the degree of human
interventions. These determinant factors include government policies and the
type and method of harvesting of the NTFP. First and foremost, various
government policies may have negative impacts through the destruction of a
specific NTFP resource base. For example, the clearing of almost half of the
J4 area to establish plantations of Gmelina arborea and indigenous timber
tree species has had an unfavourable impact on the understorey species that
produce abundant NTFPs. These include bitter kola, and many Garcinia kola
trees that used to produce abundant fruits have been destroyed by the felling
of trees and under brushing processes. Current inhabitants of the J4 area can
only tell of the past abundance of bitter kola seeds. Their only hope for regaining
the past glory of abundant harvest lies in the preciously few replantings and
trees already conserved in their cocoa plantations.
The climatic conditions and the physiography of the vegetation of the whole
area are now changing, and the human population is increasing. It is unlikely
that supply and demand for bitter kola in the production area will ever reach
equilibrium. On the other hand, the collection of Garcinia kola nut is sustainable
as the cycle of flowering to fruiting period is not tampered with when harvesting.07garcinia.p65 126 22/12/2004, 11:04