Forest Products, Livelihoods and Conservation

Louis Defo 311

At the marketing level

Harvesters sell in Yaoundé, individually and directly to craftsmen. The market

is quite open.

At the level of rattan processing and sale of finished products

Processing and sales of rattan in Yaoundé are undertaken by some 100

microstructures run by men originating from diverse ethnic groups. Rattan

craftsmanship is their main activity. The infrastructure of these PUs is mediocre,

their equipment and techniques simple, indeed archaic compared to the

average in South-east Asia. This state of things coupled with the level of the

approximate or rough technical and managerial skills of craftsmen contributes

to the manufacture of articles of poor, mediocre or at best average quantity

and quality compared to Asian products. This partly explains the narrowness

of the market and the poor sales often experienced by these PUs (Defo 2002).

PUs are also faced with various other problems including irregular supply

of rattan over the year, the preservation of rattan in the workshops, insufficient

capital and working capital or contingency funds, the poor quality of equipment,

administrative and police harassment, increases in the price of inputs, low

selling prices of articles, the absence of a veritable policy of supervision or of

promotion of craftsmanship etc.

Moreover, these PUs sell almost all of their production directly to consumers,

without intermediaries^10 , and they are limited almost exclusively to the

domestic market. Very few of the articles cross the national frontiers. The

same observation can be made for unprocessed rattan. The channel is

ultrarestricted, less developed, with very weak or lax vertical links and almost

non-existent horizontal linkage among its components.

CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT LESSONS

Conservation

As we have already mentioned, in the Yaoundé region, rattan is not exploited in

a sustainable manner. In some villages, one observes an excessive pressure on

clones, which does not leave them enough time to produce regenerating agents

(rhizomes, fruits). Extraction often results in the damage of immature stems

and considerable pieces of rattan are left on branches of support trees. The

pressure on the resource is enormous and the overexploitation is an undeniable

reality in some sites (Zamakoé, Zoassi/Zock). Nevertheless, no initiative has

been taken that aims at remedying these shortcomings and at promoting a

rational management. Moreover, if we consider the present state of knowledge

on African rattan species, it would be difficult to elaborate a rational and credible

management plan while maintaining the economic exploitation requirements.

But compared to the situation before, there are already some data and rough

ideas that can be used to build up a simple management plan.

Gaps on various points at the scientific level have to be filled before a

credible and strong conservation strategy can be drawn up. Among these points

one can cite the evaluation of the biomass, the structure, density and population

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