The role of forest resources in non-farm activities
intermediary host of bilharzias and to the water flea which harbours the guinea worm. Planting these species along irrigation banks could do much to prevent the occurrence of the diseases (Wickens 1986). A comprehensive list of forests species useful as medicines, parts used and diseases treated in Ethiopia is available from previous studies (Dawit and Ahadu 1993; Mesfin and Sebsebe 1993, Jansen 1981). See annex 2.
The role of women in forest-based income earning activities In many households of Ethiopia, women accounted for roughly half the proprietors and workers in forest product activities. Ease of entry, and being able to combine many of the activities with household tasks, mean that they are often an important source of the income that women need, and they can be more dependent on such income than men. Hence, the forest products have also a strong gender component, since many activities undertaken in the forest are women's duties. The most conspicuous difference between the roles of men and women was in the collection of fuelwood and building materials. Whereas fuelwood collection is almost entirely the responsibility of women, building materials are collected by men. It is their responsibility as men to build houses, so they have to find the materials anyway they can. Women collect these food plants when they are allowed to enter the forests for fuelwood collection and they have extra time. Women do not make deliberate trips to the forests for these food plants. At the same time a number of these plants have been domesticated in the farms. As a general trend, both men and women collect medicines from both the forests and their landplots, basketry is made by women whereas woodcarving, bamboo and reed utensils are men’s duties. Commercialization of forest products also has a gender dimension. One could generally conclude that women’s participation in commercialization of forest products is more centered in the villages while men participate in selling forest products in both rural and urban areas. A realistic intervention of stakeholder’s interest will have to take into consideration the different roles played by men and women in forest products collection and marketing. Some of these activities provide one of the means through which rural women generate income independent from their male counterparts. This not only improves household welfare but also contributes to the emancipation of women from social oppression which sometimes results from lack of economic independence from men. The involvement of women and women's groups is particularly important in rural areas, where men's migration for work and traditional roles combine to make women key resource managers and important catalysts for change. Forest-products programmes should have direct support for women (i.e. credit and training targeted for women’s groups in NWFP) as central components.
The pastoralists’ case: non-livestock activities from the bush Many pastoralists in African counries, and particularly in recent years, diversify their economic activities outside pastoralism and agriculture in order to spread the risks of natural and man-made disasters (Hazell 2000). In the long term it is essential that conditions be created whereby people have increasing access to employment opportunities outside agriculture (FAO 2000). The ingredients for this include a combination of improved education, better transport and communications, easier access to markets and financial services and, in some cases a reduction in the legal and bureaucratic barriers to entry into business. The importance of food security to most of the pastoralists and producers in the dry zones emphasizes the importance of seeking alternative foods from trees and forest areas. Bee products and edible fungi are examples. Other products, from 11