Journal of Environmental Biology

Usage of non-timber forest products by women in forest villages of Trabzon, Turkey

 

Devlet Toksoy¹, Suleyman Alkan² and Sezgin Hacisalihoglu*¹

 

¹Faculty of Forestry, Karadeniz Technical University, 61080, Trabzon, Turkey

 

²Eastern Black Sea Forestry Research Institute, 61040, Trabzon, Turkey

 

(Received: May 14, 2009; Revised received: December 20, 2009; Accepted: March 25, 2010)

 

Abstract: Women are responsible for procuring the food for their family in many places in the world. The usage of the non-timber forest products (NTFPs) reaches to the beginning of the humanity. NTFPs are used for food and medicine especially in the developing countries as a whole. In this research, totally 611 questionnaires were conducted with women participants by polling face to face in 68 forest villages in the research area. The main reason for studying with women is that; the gathering activities are usually done by women in that area and they also knew the used parts and how to use the NTFPs. Results showed that about 14.4% of the women in the research area are gathering the plants for food (17 species and 2-8 kg annually) and 9.2% of the women are gathering the plants for medicinal purposes (16 species and 1-4 kg annually). These plants are usually used for additional medicinal treatments. 4 species are used for livestock treatment and 2 species in the hand weaving.

Key words: NTFPs, Forest village, Forest product, Women

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