The value of growing trees on tropical farms for subsistence, commercial sale and environmental stability has been increasingly recognized in recent decades. However, there has been little research on the market potential for nontimber tree products (NTTPs). This publication aims to provide a background on markets and methodological issues in market assessment and how they affect agroforestry and forestry projects, with reference to recent research carried out by NRI in Cameroon on NTTPs. The specific characteristics of NTTPs which make the assessment of their market potential difficult are outlined, strategic options for their development are discussed and conclusions are drawn which stress the importance of informal methods.

Markets for non-timber tree products (NTTPs) are widely viewed with great promise because of their potential for achieving a range of development objectives. Markets can, of course, be influenced by policy, but in order to do so, market information is needed to better inform the policy process. There has been increasing concern that few market studies have been adequate for doing so. There has been ambivalence at the policy level because these markets are highly diverse and difficult to characterize, and because governments tend to view NTTP markets as a threat to the conservation and management of forests and woodlands. Perhaps most importantly, however, there has been a failure to link the design of market studies with the potential for policy change. We argue in this paper that policies per se can be used to influence the operation of these markets, and that good market research should be more carefully designed to reflect explicit policy objectives. Policies toward the operation of NTTP markets have generally been designed to meet one or more of three objectives: to bring about the conservation of tropical forests and woodlands, to improve household welfare, or to support economic growth and development at the regional and national levels. These objectives are not necessarily compatible with each other. The link between market information and the development of policies toward the operation of NTTP markets poses considerable challenges for market research. Increasingly, market researchers must be brought into the policymaking process. In particular, market analysts must be encouraged to continually stretch their conceptual framework, to expand the ways of collecting relevant data, to broaden their use of analytical methods, and to consider more carefully the links between markets, the environment, household production, and household welfare.

A summary of results of research carried out in Cameroon on the domestic market potential for non-timber tree products (NTTPs) from farms and rural communities in response to the growing concern that agroforestry projects were failing because of poor marketing strategies. Four case studies are used to explore issues related to value added, domestication and the role of NTTPs as sources of income. Conclusions are drawn and areas for future research are also highlighted in this booklet.

The value of tree-growing on tropical farms for subsistence uses, commercial sale and environmental stability has long been argued, but failure of many agroforestry programmes has been attributed to market failures. This inventory has been produced as part of a project in the highly biodiverse area of Mount Cameroon to explore domestic market potential from farms and rural communities, in response to the growing interest in non-timber tree products. Approximately 300 products are listed by their local name, with additional information on Latin names, end use, product source, seasonality, location of markets and availability in markets.