Abstract

The forest as a main source of timber contains many other useful goods and services of subsistence and commercial value called Non Timber Forest Products (NFFPs) that supports rural people and their economies. NFFPs are defined as all forest goods and services, excluding commercial timber. Garcinia manii as part of the NTFPs family, are the stems (logs) of a perennial tall evergreen forest tree of about 3m to 9m tall, from the family Garciniaceae that are harvested from the South West of Cameroon and the cross River State of Nigeria forest ecosystem. The product when exploited is marketed in Nigeria for the production of traditional tooth brush commonly used by the Ibo tribe of Nigeria. In an attempt to realise set objectives, market chain analysis of Garcinia manii was carried out between 2005-2011 in the frontier Forest areas of Cameroon and Nigeria. The study had as a general objective to examine the exploitation/harvesting and marketing of Garcinia manii and its economic contributions to the National and International economies of Cameron and Nigeria. The study used the line transects, questionnaires and a selection of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools to source information from harvesters of Garcinia manii and other forest user groups on the occurrence, harvesting and marketing of Garcinia manii in the study area. Findings revealed that Garcinia manii trees were identified to be harvested and cut into 3m-5m logs for the market. Exploitation/harvesting and processing techniques for Garcinia manii was characterized by the use of crude local and semi industrial made tools. Market prices were found to be determined by the contractors/harvesters who acted as cartel. ANOVA and t-test analysis showed significant differences in product quantities within and between zones A and B as well as the dry and wet seasons at p<0.05 level of significance. A total of 12,882,073 metric tons of Garcinia manii was harvested and sold between 2005 and 2011. This was valued at about 38,646,220 F (CFA) equivalents to US$ 77,292.4 internally generated revenue (IGR) to the economies of Cameroon and Nigeria.

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