One of the major problems faced by the institution responsible for the forest resources is the lack of capacity of organising the collection of data. The few found are very far to be realistic; this is for timber and non-timber products. Unfortunately their value and other services provided are not taken into consideration when trying to estimate the contribution of forests to the national economy.
In fact, data collected by the Institute of Forestry Development with regard to NWFP are generally based on bushmeat, smoked fish, and in very few occasions on wild-fruits, leaves used for rural construction and roots for medicinal purposes. The only way of gathering these data is through issuing permits and controlling the entrance of products to the main entry points of the main cities. The last measure is less effective once a major part of products escapes to the control of the agents in charge.
As occur in most African countries, the data in possession are generally restrict and almost insignificant for the single fact that movement of NWFP in the rural areas are not taken into the statistics in the sector for many reasons.
It is evident that most of the population in developing countries is found in rural area and their dependence on forest and forestry resources is largely recognised. That means, the daily use of non-wood forest products is very much significant compared to timber, including the urban communities at some extent.
The present status of the use of NWFP may suffer few changes compared to a backward past. Actually, the imbalance between rural and urban communities is not too high for the single fact that an important part of the population of Angola left their original communities toward main cities and towns for unrest reasons. This seems to state there is a decreasing use of Non-Wood Forest Products (see section 6).
There is no assessment carried out by the forestry sector or other institutions, at least after the independence, in order to determine the economic value of NWFP, apart from some few researches on medicinal plants carried out individually. Documentation produced is a concern, once it has not been possible to be found.
