Implementing Agency:
Department For International Development (NRRD)

Managing Institute:
NRIL (Natural Resources International)

Contractor:
Oxford Forestry Institute

Project Code: R5590 583-656-003	Start Date: May 1, 1993	End Date: Sept. 30, 1995
Commitment: £160,628	Status: Completed	Type of Funding: Bilateral - TDR

Project Background:
New research to address gaps in knowledge about the dynamics of small forest-based enterprise activities.

Project Objectives:
The objective of the project is to identify factors that determine which local economic activities based on non-timber forest products have the potential for profitable and sustainable growth, and which do not, as an input to improve design of forest management and small enterprise projects and programmes.

Intended Outputs:
Phase 1: To search the literature for all available information. To review methodological and empirical work relating to the study of economics of change in small - scale enterprise activities, in order to identify methods likelt to be applicable to analysis of the NFTP sub-sector. To apply the selected methods to the existing data. To identify gaps in the information that need to be explored through original field studies, on the basis of the results at this stage of the work. Phase 2: To implement a stratified sample survey covering the forest zone of the country, in order to investigate the magnitude, density, structure, basic characteristics and dynamic performance of different categories of NFTP activity in different rural and urban environments. To combine the results of this survey with the results of the observational studies of particular NTFP products, markets and production and user concentrations, being carried out by the TC-funded Forest Management Project. To produce: a) a set of criteria that help identify which products and activities have the potential for profitable growth and which do not. b)recommendations for possible interventions to support potentially viable and sustainable activities. c) a review of methodological approaches of value in assessing these issues.