Marketing of Community Managed Resources from Nepal: Issues of Benefits and Sustainability

The study is about the market analysis of major products from community-managed forest (CF) in Nepal. The objective of this study is to analyze comparative marketing systems of forest products for better watershed condition by improving the marketing systems. Market analysis in this study concerned about market centers, accessibility, marketing systems, marketing channels and price differences between different markets. The research analyzed how an individual user got benefits from the CFs and income earning from it.The research was conducted in two watersheds from two districts of Nepal. Using structured questionnaire, 142 households from four CFs were interviewed along with group discussions, field visit and key informants survey with the various stakeholders. The study confirms that the marketing of products from the CFs were still in a development stage. There was limited harvesting and trading rights to the individual users. User group collectively harvested and traded timber products to the local users. Non timber forest products (NTFPs) mostly sold cooperatives to the herbal medicinal industries.There was still a certain role of intermediaries in the marketing of NTFPs. Various social, economic and institutional factors were associated with marketing of forest products. Institutional factors were the key determinants for the benefit from marketing. No provision of individual benefits because of inappropriate policy guidelines and impractical operational plan were the key constraints. The poor and marginalized people were not getting any sort of direct benefits from the CFs.There is a need to improve institutional arrangement system and provision for individual benefits and income from CFs. The provision of clear policy guidelines for marketing of products and price information to the collectors for higher profits was recommended. Existing cooperative marketing approach should continue with the uses of local knowledge for processing that will be beneficial to get more income from the products.