In recent decades there has been growing interest in the contribution of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) livelihood strategies to rural development and poverty alleviation. However, the potential of NTFPs to contribute to development remained limited and open to doubt. The study objectives were to: (i) analyze the role of NTFPs livelihood strategies in rural development in order to explain their potentials and failures; and (ii) identify and analyze the factors influencing the contribution of NTFPs livelihood strategies to household income. The study was carried out analyzing three NTFPs in Rashad locality in the Nuba Mountains, Sudan in 2008–2009. The data were collected through interviews, direct observations and market surveys. Purposive sampling technique was applied to select 221 and 62 collector and trader households, respectively. The results revealed that Adansonia digitata fruit sale represents a subsistence strategy for some sampled households and accumulative strategy for others, while Ziziphus spina-christi and Balanites aegyptiaca fruits sale is a subsistence strategy for all the surveyed households.

Type of Case
Printed publication (book, sourcebook, journal article…)

Publisher
Elsevier Ltd.

Region
Africa

Biome
Tropical

Forest Type
All forest types (natural and planted)

Primary Designated Function
Multiple use