Les effets de l’exploitation de raphia dans les forets galeries de la commune de Bazou

Abstract

The population of the Bazou community is constantly growing, and subsistence needs are a cause for concern. The fall in coffee-growing prices in the 1980s has had a serious impact on household incomes. To remedy this situation, local people have turned to raffia harvesting to make raffia crates. However, the current conditions in which raffia is exploited have implications for the environmental and socio-economic environment. This is the background to our study: ‘The effects of raffia harvesting in the gallery forests of the community of Bazou’. The aim of this research is to show the current implications of raffia harvesting on the environmental and socio-economic environment. To achieve our objective, we used a methodology that involved collecting primary and secondary data. This was done using documentary research; participatory observation; a questionnaire survey and interviews and botanical surveys. The survey was carried out on a sample of 108 people chosen on a reasoned basis. Our research shows that the current methods of exploitation, which can be seen in the many uses to which raffia is put, are the source of its covetousness. The techniques used for its exploitation are clear-cutting, seed tree, and selective cutting. Logging is carried out in an uncontrolled manner and has a major impact on raffia. This also leads to a vegetation transition on certain gallery forest sites. Furthermore, the use of raffia to make crates contributes to the regression of gallery forest vegetation cover by around 2774m2 per year. The effects of this activity are positive in the short and medium term, through the rise of an average rural class, the development of other income-generating activities and the curbing of rural exodus. To save this species and ensure sustainable exploitation, we have made a number of suggestions to the authorities, NGOs, the media and the local population. These suggestions include raising awareness, imposing penalties, strictly enforcing the law, restocking and adopting recyclable traps.