Economic contribution of mount Elgon forest to the sustenance of the community livelihoods :

Abstract

Forests are home to millions of people around the world. These rely on forests for their livelihoods for example food, leaves, mushrooms, forest animals and insect species. A study was conducted on the local Communities of Chema sub-county in Kapchorwa district eastern Uganda with the aim of generating information on the economic contribution of Mount Elgon forest to the well-being of the community around the forest to help design measures on the sustainable forest resource management. The. main objective was to provide information about the economic contribution of Elgon forest to sustenance of the livelihoods of the community, the other objectives were to establish income generated from activities conducted within mount Elgon area, identify the drivers to conduct the different activities in and around the forest, identify the implication. of forest products harvested, identify measures and alternative livelihood options as substitutes for forest exploitation. The data was collected from a sample of 60 respondents using questionnaires which were both open and close ended, observation, and existing literature from the journals, websites and reports. Data was entered and analyzed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS because they are user friendly as compared to other soft ware's. Farming and livestock rearing are the most activities practiced by the rural households in Chema sub county mainly for income generation while firewood collection is the most common activity conducted inside the forest by the rural poor residents because they want to get fuel wood for cooking food, firewood collection is the most earning economic. activity conducted inside the forest, farming and animal keeping are reported the most income earning activities conducted outside the forest, bee keeping is the least earning economic activity conducted outside the forest and most of the residents around Mount Elgon forest have lost bamboo shoots due to high demand for food to meet food crisis such as malewa and bamboo stakes used for supporting climbing crops.