Abstract:
The overall objective of the study was to assess the contribution of SUA Training Forest
to adjacent local communities and forest product customers in Olmotonyi, Arusha.
Purposive sampling was used to select two villages (Timbolo and Shiboro) with the
longest boundary to the forest among the four villages. A cross-sectional survey design
was employed where a total number of 90 respondents were randomly selected and
interviewed using household questionnaire. Key informant’s information was collected
and two focus group discussions comprising of 16 discussants in both groups with
Farmers and Livestock keepers from Shiboro Village. Data was analyzed by Gross
Margin Analysis, Net Revenues and Stepwise Multiple Linear Regression model using the
Statistical Package for Social Science 24.0 (SPSS) Software and Microsoft Excel. The
findings revealed that, the farmers gained 4% of the overall profit of Forest interactions,
the livestock keepers gained 55% and the traders had a gain of 41% of the overall gross
profit from the socio-economic activities. Pesticides, Household size, Pasture loads
collected, Access to markets and Fertilizer application were found to be significant factors
influencing local communities depending on the Forest resource at a 5% probability level
(p<0.05). The Social Cost to the households and forest product customers accounted for
the conservation actions to the resource which was TZS 5 693 600/= per
year. Moreover, 38% of the forest product customers preferred the Pinus patula species
and 55% purchased timber from the SUA Training Forest for construction purposes. The
SUA Training Forest Overall Net profit was TZS 540 501 089.90/= from the sales of the
Forest products to the customers. Generally, the SUA Training Forest resources are of
high benefit to both adjacent local communities and beyond. It is recommended that
modalities should be sought to capacitate sustainable utilization of the scarce and valuable
resource.
