Tropentag, September 11 - 13, 2024, Vienna "Explore opportunities... for managing natural resources and a better life for all"

Natural forests products for rural development and poverty alleviation in Sudan

University of Khartoum, Fac. of Forestry; Forest Products and Industries, Sudan

Abstract

Sudan is a country with highly diverse ecological zones. The rainfall varies from zero in the northern part to more than 1,200 mm in the southwestern part of the country resulting in in great variation in vegetation cover. Therefore, Sudan has diverse forest products, including wood and non-wood forest products. The vast majority of Sudan forests are situated in poor rural areas, where great number of populations live around the forests and considered as forest-dependent for livelihood, wood energy and on round timber for buildings. For instance, in Sinnar State, most of the populations live in the rural areas, depending upon forest products in their livelihoods. However, no information is available about the contribution of natural forests in provision of forest products for the rural population and their roles in poverty alleviation.
Therefore, this study attempted to provide information on the contribution of forest products into income of the rural livelihood and economic development in Nowara Natural Forest, Sinnar State, Sudan. The research was relied on probability techniques for data collection from local community members in the study area using the simple random sampling techniques. With regards to the data collection methods, combination of primary and secondary sources of data was used. The secondary data was collected from various sources that include archives, records and annual reports of governmental institutions and non-governmental organisation’s (NGOs), as well as results of previous studies from published papers and documents. While, primary data was collected mainly using household survey through structured questionnaire using open and closed questions in which both qualitative and quantitative data were deployed via face-to-face interviews. For this research, both qualitative and quantitative data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences software (SPSS) version 25.
The results revealed that the forest products have significant contribution in enhancing the income of the local communities which leads to poverty alleviation of the rural populations in the study area.

Keywords: Forest products, natural forest, poverty alleviation, Sudan

Contact Address: Hanadi Mohamed Shawgi Gamal, University of Khartoum, Fac. of Forestry; Forest Products and Industries, Alemarat Street 61, Khartoum, Sudan, e-mail: hanadishawgi1979yahoo.com