Forest products, income and its livelihood implication with gender difference at Masha district, southwest Ethiopia.

Forest is one of the most essential types of resources providing beneficial material and environmental service. The forest of Sheka is threatened by unsustainable use and conversion to alternative land use. This study was conducted to identify the major collected and marketed forest products, quantify the total and relative forest product income generated by the gender of household head in Masha district, southwest Ethiopia. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from primary and secondary data sources. Primary data were collected through focus group discussion, key informant interview and survey consisting of 156 household samples that were selected using multi-stage sampling techniques. Secondary data were collected from published, unpublished materials and annual reports of relevant government offices. Data were analyzed using SPSS and Stata software programs. Descriptive statistics like mean, frequency and percentage were determined. The result indicates that 17 major forest product are collected by households in the area. Forest product collection is one of the livelihood activity contributing on average of $1887.16 (44% of their total annual income) and $867.3 (32% of their total annual income) to male and female headed households, respectively. This proves that, in the study area, male headed households generate more income from forest products than female headed households. Household in the study area depend to a higher degree on income from forest product collection. Alternatives should be found to minimize extraction of woody forest products and minimize dependency of household on forest income. Government should assess the impact of licensed investment project on environment and local community and take corrective action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]