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Evaluation of the effectiveness of the social forestry component of the Forest Resources Management Project (FRMP) in Kurunegala District
By Admin | January 7, 2009
The paper reports findings of an evaluation of the social forestry component of the Forest Resources Management Project of the Ministry of Environment commenced in 2002 with the overall objective of improving forest management for environmental protection and sustainable utilization of wood.
Three Forest Ranges in Kurunegala District were selected for the study ie Mahawa, Malsiripura and Galgamuwa. The methodology included secondary data gathering from published reports, primary data gathering by way of questionnaires, focal groups discussions and key informant surveys. Questionnaire survey was carried out in 72 randomly selected households 32 each from Mahawa and Galgamuwa and 8 from Malsiripura to represent 95% of the total households participating in the Project. 30 households who are not participating in the Project were taken as the control. The project staff, officers in the Forest Dept, Divisional Secretary, village leaders and elders were also interviewed. Woodlots were measured for yield and species composition recorded.
In general, there was a marked decrease in forest related offences such as encroachments, illicit felling of timber in all the ranges in Kurunegala Division from 2005 onwards. The decrease was from 4.25 ha to 1.3 ha. 66% of long term lease agreements were enacted after the FRMP Project and of them 52% were with women farmers. The supplemental income from agroforestry plots was more in the range Rs. 100,000 – 150,000 per year in general. A significant increase was shown in the total family income per year especially in the range of 200,000 – 400,000. While the persons having passed G.C.E. O/L was 23% before FRMP it increased to 43% after the project. The school drop outs or those who did not attend at all decreased from 16 to 10%. More employment was created in farming in the villages. Majority of the farmers were satisfied with the services provided by the Forest Dept staff. With regard to land degradation, all the respondents agreed that land degradation was curtailed after FRMP significantly. The FD staff had been trained well and the policies have also changed towards better sustainability. However, as the farmers were not well versed in forest management practices to obtain optimal yield the growth of the plots were rather inferior to the Forest Department plantations.
M.C.S. Kumarawardene* and D.M.S.H.K. Ranasinghe**
* Forest Department, ** Department of Forestry and Environmental Science, University of Sri Jayewardenepura
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