Developing Non-Timber Forest Resources in the Brazilian Amazon: Determinants of Household Participation

Managers of multiple-use forest areas in the tropics are often encouraged to assist resident and neighboring populations to market the non-timber benefits of those areas, thus giving them an incentive to conserve the forest. Markets for non-timber forest products (resins, nuts, etc.) are often very thin, however, with fluctuating prices and few households participating. In this situation, one method for predicting whether households would participate in an expanded market is through contingent behavior survey questions. Using household survey data, this study develops and estimates models of the determinants of (a) actual collection and (b) collection or cultivation contingent upon a proposed marketing project for andiroba oil in the Tapajós National Forest of Brazil. The actual and contingent behavior models have different implications for project management. 1 Assistant Professor, Department of Forestry, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695-8008. Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) have figured prominently in strategies for integrated conservation and development of tropical forest regions. In particular, interest has focused on expanding the demand or modifying the trading system for such products, in order to draw households out of less sustainable activities and into the market for NTFPs. Planning this type of intervention requires information on current household participation in the market, on needed modifications in the market, and on which households would participate in a modified market. This paper illustrates a method for answering these questions with a case study of andiroba oil, a common NTFP in the Brazilian Amazon. This product, like most other NTFPs in the region, is both sold and consumed by households, indicating that the household production framework is an appropriate starting point for the model. Household Production Model-Rural households living on the margins of tropical forests typically face incomplete markets. Key agricultural crops and high value NTFPs may be routinely traded, but other products, and inputs such as labor in NTFP collection, may not have any market. In many cases, government forests are essentially open-access. No individual household can restrict access or effectively monitor another household’s activities in the forest, contributing to the absence of a labor market. Thus, household time (T) is allocated to subsistence (Ls) and commercial (Lc) production activities, with the remainder used for home activities (Lh), including leisure. Households gain utility from Lh, market goods consumed (xm), and subsistence goods produced by the household (xs). They earn income from market goods produced (xc) and exogenous sources (I). Given the resulting income and time constraints, the household's utility maximization decision is represented by the following Lagrangian: 1. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) h c s m c c c h m s s L L L T x I z L x P h L x z L x u L