Abstract
Abstract. With the aim of answering the question whether or not Non-Timber Forest Products can contribute in reducing rural income inequality in the South-West region of Cameroon, the study used primary data collected from a survey on 408 rural household heads. The Data was collected using a structured questionnaire. We adopted three different methodologies – The Gini Coefficient, The Lorenz curve, and The Income Decomposition by income sources to obtain identical results. The results revealed that incomes from non-timber forest products reduces rural income inequality in the rural parts of the region significantly, and occupy an important position amongst the different income sources which were investigated. We therefore recommend improved value-added for Non-Timber Forest Products through processing. A better management of the forest in general and the forest resources in particular will ensure improved benefits to the community as a whole especially in the areas of total income and income inequality..
Keywords. Economic Welfare, Rural Income Inequality, Non-Timber Forest Incomes, Gini Coefficient Income Decomposition by income sources and Cameroon.
JEL. O11, E20, Q13, C30.References
Adams, R.Jr. (1994). Non-farm income and inequality in rural Pakistan: A decomposition analysis. Journal of Development Studies, 31(1), 110-113. doi. 10.1080/00220389408422350
Aguayo-Rico, A., Guerra-Turrubiates, I.A., & Montes, R. (2005). Empirical dvidence of the impact of health on economic growth, Issues in Political Economy, 14, 1-17.
Alejandro, H. (2006). Does natural resources extraction mitigate poverty and inequality? Evidence from Mexico. Environment and Development Economics, 12(2), 251-269. doi. 10.1017/S1355770X06003494
Amin, A.A., & Jean-Luc, A. (2000). A 1999 update of the Cameroon Poverty Profile: Reducing the current Poverty and Tempering the Increase Inequality, The World Bank Country Paper, Washington D.C.
Asmamaw, A., Pretzsch, J., Secco L., & Mohamod, T. (2014). Contribution of small-scale gum and resin commercialization to local livelihood and rural economic development in the dry lands of Eastern Africa. Forests, 5(5), 952-977. doi. 10.3390/f5050952
Atkinson, A.B. (1975). The Economics of Inequality. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Atlas of the United Republic of Cameroon, (1980). Editions Jeune Afrique, MaisonMame, Tours - France.
Babulo, B., Muy, B., Nega, F., Tollens, E., Nyssen, J., Decker, J., & Mathias, E. (2009). The Economic Contribution of Forest Resource Use to Rural Livelihoods in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. Forest Policy and Economics, 11(2), 109-117. doi. 10.1016/j.forpol.2008.10.007
Bahadur, B.K.C. (2014). Inequality and Forest Dependence on Community Forest Resources in Kaski, Nepal. Institute of Forestry, Tribhuvan University, Pokhara Nepal.
Barret, C.B., Reardon, T., & Webb, P. (2001). Non-Farm Income Diversification and Households Livelihood Strategies in Rural Africa: Concepts, Dynamics and Policy Implication, Department of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, Ithaca.
Becker, S.G., & Murphy, K.M. (2007). The Upside of Income Inequality. The America Economics Review. [Retrieved from].
Cavendish, W. (1999). Poverty, inequality and environmental resources: Quantitative analysis of rural households. Centre for the Study of African Economics. Oxford, Working Paper Series, No.99-9. [Retrieved from].
Chinn, D. (1979). Rural poverty and the structure of farm household income in developing countries: Evidence from Taiwan. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 27(2), 283-301. doi. 10.1086/451093
Das, N. (2010). Incidence of forest income on reduction of inequality: Evidence from forest dependent households in milieu of joint forest management. Ecological Economics, 69(8), 1617-1625. doi. 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2010.03.003
Druckman, A., & Jackson, T. (2008). Measuring resource inequalities: The concepts and methodology for an area-based Gini coefficient. Ecological Economics, 65(2), 242-252. doi. 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2007.12.013
Ellison, G.T. (2002). Letting the Gini out of the bottle? Challenges facing the relative income hypothesis. Social Science & Medicine, 54(4), 561–576. doi. 10.1016/s0277-9536(01)00052-1
Fernando, G., & De Maio, A. (2007). Income inequality measures, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 61(10), 841-841. doi. 10.1136/jech.2006.052969
Fisher, M. (2004). Households welfare and forest dependence in Southern Malawi, Environment and Development Economics, 9(2), 135-154. doi. 10.1017/S1355770X03001219
Fonta, W.M., & Ayuk, E.T. (2013). Measuring the role of forest income in mitigating poverty and inequality: Evidence from South Eastern Nigeria, Forests, Trees and Livelihoods, 22(2), 86-105. doi. 1080/14728028.2013.785783
Fonta, W.M., Ichoku, H.E., & Ayuk, E. (2009). The distributional impacts of forest income on household welfare in rural Nigeria, Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, 2(2), 1-13.
Garry, J., & Slaus, I. (2010). Indicators of economic progress: The power of measurement and human welfare, Cadmus, 1(1), 49.
Getachew, M., Sjaastad, E., & Velded, P. (2007). Economic dependence of forest resource: case from Dendi District, Ethiopia. Forest Policy and Economics, 9(8), 916-927. doi. 10.1016/j.forpol.2006.08.001
Jagger, P. (2012). Enviromental income, rural households, and income inequality in Western Uganda. Forest, Trees and Livelihoods, 21(2), 70-84. doi. 10.1080/14728028.2012.698846
Jodha, N.S. (1986). Common property resources and rural poor dry regions of India, Economic and Political Weekly, 21(27), 1169-1181.
Kawachi, I., & Kennedy, B.P. (1997). The relationship of income inequality to mortality: does the choice of indicator matter? Social Science and Medicine, 45(7), 1121-1127. doi. 10.1016/s0277-9536(97)00044-0
Kumar, S. (2002). Does participatory in common pool resource management help the poor? A social cost-benefit analysis of joint forest management in Jharkhand, India. World Development, 30(5), 763-782. doi. 10.1016/S0305-750X(02)00004-9
Kumar, S., Saxena, N., Alagh, F., & Mitra, K. (2000). India Alleviating Poverty through Forest Development – Evaluation Country Case Study. The World Bank, Washington DC.
Lerman, R., & Yitzhaki, S. (1985). Income inequality effects by income sources: A new approach to the U.S. Review of Economics and Statistics. 67(1), 151-156. doi. 10.2307/1928447
Ouedraogo, A. (2009) . Aménagement Forestier et Lutte contre la Pauvreté au Burkina Faso, Développement Durable et Territoires.
Makoudjou, A., Levang, P., & Chupezi, J.T. (2017). The role of forest resources in income inequality in Cameroon. Forest, Trees and Livelihoods, 26(4), 271-285. doi. 10.1080/14728028.2017.1297258
Ouedraogo, B., & Ferrari, S. (2012). Incidence of Forest Income in Reducing Poverty and Inequalities: Evidence from Forest Dependent Households in Managed Forests’ Areas in Burkina Faso. Cahiers du GREThA, 20, 12-28.
Ray, D. (1998). Development Economics, Princeton, No.5: Princeton University Press.
Reddy, S.R.C., & Chakravarty, S.P. (1999). Forest dependence and income distribution in a subsistence economy: Evidence from India, World Development, 27(7), 1141-1149. doi. 10.1016/S0305-750X(99)00057-1
Sahota, G.S. (1978). Theories of personal income distribution: A survey, Journal of Economic Literature, 16(1), 1-55.
Shand, R.T. (1987). Income distribution in a dynamic rural sector: Some evidence from Malaysia. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 36(1), 35-50. doi. 10.1086/451635
Todaro, P.M., & Smith, C.S. (2009). Economic Development, Dorling Kindersley, Pvt Ltd, India.
World Bank, (2001). A Revised Forest Strategy for the World Bank Group (Draft). The World Bank, Washington D.C.
World Bank, (2013). The World Bank Annual Report 2013, Washington D.C.
Wunder, S. (2001). Poverty alleviation and tropical forests – What scope for synergies? World Development, 29(11), 1817-1833. doi. 10.1016/S0305-750X(01)00070-5
Yates, M. (2003). Naming the system. Inequality and work in the global economy, Monthly Review Press, pp.58-60,
Yemiru, T., Roos, A., Campbell, B., & Bohlin, F. (2010). Forest incomes and poverty alleviation under participatory forest management in the bale highlands, Southern Ethiopia. International Forestry Review, 12(1), 66-77. doi. 10.1505/ifor.12.1.66
