Non-timber forest products as poverty traps: Fact or fiction?

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are used by billions of rural and urban people globally. Income shares from NTFPs are generally highest among poor communities and households, and consequently, their use has at times been described as a poverty trap. However, there are only a handful of works that have directly examined the existence of poverty traps in relation to NTFPs, and none concluded that poverty traps existed in their specific contexts. Consequently, in this paper, we (i) examined the basis for the argument that NTFP use and reliance does engender poverty traps, and (ii) present a reasoned case as to why the use of and reliance on NTFPs is unlikely to result in poverty traps in most contexts. We end with a call for more comprehensive research into the contexts which might, or do, result in poverty traps emanating from reliance on NTFPs, and until such are forthcoming, some circumspection in linking of the two.